By investing in better research and education, Obama noted, America can lead the world in the same way its investments half a century ago brought the first lunar landing after the Soviet satellite Sputnik had beaten the United States into space.
"After investing in better research and education, we didn't just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs," Obama said. "This is our generation's Sputnik moment."
Obama also called for revamping education policy and adding 100,000 more math, science, technology and engineering teachers by the end of the decade; extending wireless Internet coverage to 98 percent of the population, and having 80 percent of the nation's electricity coming from clean energy sources by 2035 and 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
"Some folks want wind and solar," Obama said of the clean energy goal. "Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all -- and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen."
The Republican response from Rep. Paul Ryan was also pretty standard fare.
We face a crushing burden of debt. The debt will soon eclipse our entire economy and grow to catastrophic levels in the years ahead.
On this current path, when my three children -- who are now 6, 7, and 8 years old -- are raising their own children, the federal government will double in size, and so will the taxes they pay.
No economy can sustain such high levels of debt and taxation. The next generation will inherit a stagnant economy and a diminished country. Frankly, it's one of my greatest concerns as a parent, and I know many of you feel the same way.
But the real star of the night was the Bachmanniac response from Planet Trainwreck.
Ms. Bachmann defied Democratic and Republican leaders who had scripted a night of unity, courtesy and common purpose. Instead, Ms. Bachman gave viewers a blast of Tea Partisan fury that served as a rebuke both to President Obama and to the milder, more conciliatory official Republican response delivered by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
It wasn’t just what she said, though she used words like “explosion” and “exploded” and “Obamacare” a lot. It was the way Ms. Bachmann spoke, smiling and gesturing with an intensity that almost cracked the screen. “Instead of a leaner, smarter government, we bought a bureaucracy that now tells us which light bulbs to buy and which may put 16,500 IRS agents in charge of policing President Obama’s health care bill,” Ms. Bachmann said, as she stood in front of a huge chart of unemployment figures.
She didn’t look directly into the camera, but stared slightly to her right, which added to the sense of discordance. (She was looking into a Tea Party Express camera, but was recorded by a pool camera that belonged to Fox News.)
America got a really good look at the Democrats, the Republicans, and the Tea Party last night and the differences among them: Obama talks of tough times but hope in the future, Ryan talks of tough times and looming disaster ahead, and Bachmann screams that the disaster is upon us now and revolution is proceeding apace.
What you believe personally about America in 2011 probably influences which of the three you believed most last night.
I was watching these speeches last night and realized this: Now we have the national debate framed by the Teabaggers on the right and the Dems on the "left." Leaving the GOP characterized as moderates.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine a better outcome for the corporate media and their masters. The Overton Window continues being frogmarched rightward.
There is that.
ReplyDeleteWhen your choices are "capitulation, marching backward, and taking a catapult to 1861" you can't help but thinking there should be another alternative.
Not good.
so where are you on the 5-year spending freeze, Z?
ReplyDeleteHe's calling for all these new investments (badly needed, I support them) but at the same time...domestic spending freeze.
ReplyDeleteDoes not compute.
That's was my wife's reaction. She's mostly apolitical, but certainly a 'left behind moderate.'
ReplyDeleteShe turned to me and said, "and how is he going to do all this stuff, and at the same time cut all this from the budget."
And then Mr. Obama delivered the line, I’m not sure how we’ll reach that better place beyond the horizon, but I know we’ll get there. I know we will.
So I said, "I think he's counting on us to figure that out," and rolled my eyes.
He sure delivers a good speech, but when you analyze this one semantically, it's nonsequitur. Other than the capitulation part, that is.