Comments on Obamas talk to congress

I have listened to Obama probably more than any other mainstream politician. Some of this comes from the nature of Obama's politics. Some of it comes from the youtube phenomena. I was able to listen to his address to congress about an hour after he gave it.

I found his speech only occasionally informative. mostly covering an agenda already familiar to me,and describing a state of the world only too familiar to most of us.

If we had an opportunity to act on his speech, say go out an vote for him, it might have been inspiring. (more on that later). But as the president describing what legislation and policy would do, hoping is now replaced with waiting. Will things work out as we hope?

Let me turn to specifics of his speech:
* The recovery package, will save or protect jobs we are told. And surely it will compared with doing nothing, or only cutting taxes for the rich. But the economy is still shrinking. We don't know how bad it will get or how long it will last.
* The credit crunch is perpetuating the down turn, and the banks seem unwilling to loosen lending. Obama indicated that further funds will be needed for the banks, funds beyond what has already been allocated. This is disappointing not only because the greater price tag, but also because his administration won't consider nationalizing the banks. If as some economists claim the big banks are already essentially bankrupt propping them up is just chasing bad money with good. taking over the banks would allow the government to at least keep the banks functional.
* Budget transparency was on Obama's agenda. This is good but claims about bringing down the federal debt are only guess work. Remember that any calculations about this were made by economists, remember how well they predicted the stock bubble of the 1990's and the housing bubble we just watched pop? A legitimate question is what if the economy doesn't get going again? Peek Oil might be a reason it wouldn't get started again. Oil prices are down because of the recession but the recession may have been effected by oil prices. If the economy gets going oil prices will shoot up even more and this will just put breaks on the economy.
* The president has set out energy goals that are optimistic. Renewable energy includes, bio-fuel, Hydro-electric, Geothermal wind, solar, wood and waste last year that amounted to about 10% of our energy needs. over 60 % of that comes from wood and hydroelectric, but these have been the slowest growing sectors in the past 10 years possibly even shrinking. they are unlikely to grow much in the next few years. Bio-fuel has grown by a factor of 6 in the past 10 years, wind energy production has increased by a factor of 15. For these growth sectors, wind and biofuel to grow at a rate that would double total renewable energy in three years they would each have to nearly triple their output each year.
*Obama recommitted to addressing Health care this year, but here he was perhaps most vague. Sort of the I'll form a committee approach. Unless the insurance racket , and big Pharm are controlled you can reshuffle the deck all you want but the cards will be the same. Mark Hyman MD will be testifying before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions tomorrow, he says he intends to tell congress that "we must change not only the WAY we do medicine, but also the medicine we DO." I think he is right but will anyone be listening? Part of the different medicine we need to do is focusing more on public health oriented interventions (I'll be posting on that in a separate post soon).
*Around education Obama set a goal that I hadn't heard before. "by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world." I'm all in favor of a greater focus on education, but this we're # 1 crap is a mistake. There is no value in being better than others. The goals we should have are just being the best we can be. On education he called on every American to pursue at least one year of college, and he reiterated the importance of individuals turning off the TV. (more on this below).
*Regarding the middle east the message was wait and see, we're reviewing and will soon present our position on Iraq and Afghanistan & Pakistan. Well Afghanistan deserves a longer discussion, but I'm certainly not pleased with the additional troops sent there a few days ago.

OK its not perfect but there are some good goals, can they be obtained? A growing economy frees up resources to do things like address our environmental problems but a growing economy creates environmental problems too. some of how this balance will play out depends on our choices. both our collective choices, policy choices, and our individual choices. Similarly our health care costs are a reflection of our health choices. Obama made a personal appeal to citizens around education, an appeal for direct action, actions that individuals can take that can make a difference in the bigger picture, we should apply the principle of direct action to health care and energy issues. Here we get back to the notion of a movement to change America that is larger than Obama or his administration. Change happens through direct action, in this case it could be the action of weatherizing a house, or switching to compact florescent lights. it could be getting regular exercise and eating right as a step towards health care reform. So I think Obama's speech was important only as a preamble to a call for action.