Last night saw President Obama give his first State of the Union speech to Congress. His main emphasis was upon tackling the unemployment figures which have now reached around 10% (at least 2.5% higher than here in the UK), but, three sentences some up to me personally Obama’s first year in Office and the condition of the financial crisis worldwide, “If we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today. More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost.”.
One area that certainly caught my attention was that of Obama saying “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.”. It is such a shame that a law discriminative has been able to stay in force in country that is prided on its tolerance and now progressivism will hopefully win through against conservative dogma.
Max
Don’t ask don’t tell has been a disgrace from day one. Thank goodness it’ll soon be gone! The idea of having to conceal a part of what you are on pain of getting fired stands opposed to liberty and the pursuit of happiness to name just two principles!
People have expected miracles from him so far. They ought to be realistic and a little more patient, such a radically progressive agenda was always going to take a long time to complete and the circumstances are far from ideal at this time. I mean he’s only been in office for a year and people are already judging him and his party like there’s about to be an election, whereas in fact his term’s only really just beginning. Obama is a far better president than McCain – the alternative, could ever have been, the McCain “maverick” myth notwithstanding. And Bush, Jr.? He shouldn’t ever have even won two (one) election(s) in the first place.
Overall, America would be far better off if large sections of it’s population weren’t so conservative, with their strangely irrational fear of – “socialism”…well, that’s the Cold War for you.
As to the abolition of “don’t ask, don’t tell” it’s about time. Even the Republic of Ireland, who only decriminised homosexuality in 1993 (five years after the European Court of Human Rights ruled against it) allow homosexuals to openly serve in their military forces. Really the entire prohibition of those with a sexual orientation other than heterosexuality being in the US military should have been repealed 1993 as well. Now after an exceptional delay, hopefully Congress will finally see sense.
Part of the problem is the US constitution’s presidential system. Abolition of the presidency would be the best thing for America along with four-year terms for congressmen.