A student's recap of President Obama's Second State of the Union Address
Brad Robichaux
Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: News
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The first of the topics which followed President Obama's introduction discussed the state of the economy and the continuing influence of the economic recession. In defense of the recent activity of Congress, The president put forth that economists from both sides of the political line had warned that unless something was done immediately, the economy could fall into a worse condition than it is now, or even a possible "second depression," as the president stated. "The storm has passed…" Obama continued, "… but the devastation remains," and afterwards the president cited the unemployment rate of 10% (or "one in ten Americans") as evidence of challenges still faced in the aftermath of the economic recession.
What followed this report was the first of many calls by the president for bipartisanship in the effort to solve the nation's problems. "[People] are tired of the partisanship, the shouting, and the pettiness. They know we can't afford it," the president spoke. "What the American people hope, what they deserve, is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences."
The president moved on to discuss the bank bailout, which Obama assured no one liked, including himself. The president defended, however, his support for the bailout as an initiative that, though unpopular, was necessary, citing that the bailout helped stabilize the financial sector and has, thus far, recovered most of the money that was paid out to failing banks. The president then proposed, as a means to generate the remainder of the funds, a fee levied upon the "biggest banks," stating, "If these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the tax-payers who rescued them in their time of need."
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