This country is broken. That's all I can say. Yes, we're better off than most countries in the world, but when the Speaker of the House doesn't clap for gender equality, or improvements in education, you know something is wrong. When Congress is so divided that the only topic that receives bipartisan claps is (untrue) American exceptionalism, you know something's wrong. All this being said, for the circumstances, Obama made a (for the most part) rallying, inspiring, and succinct speech, BUT I still think we need an alternative to both Obama and the clown-like Republican candidates.
     Topics I support/am in agreement with that Obama discussed during SOTU: Obama's assertion that we need to get the bad teachers out of schools, and reward the good ones for what they are doing. I've had too many not-so-quality teachers at Central, and that's Central, so I can't imagine what it's like at other institutions of learning that don't possess Central's prestige or standard of education. The whole, "If you keep spiking tuition, the government will stop giving you funds." It's a fair warning to colleges. Higher education should not be a luxury. I also love love loved his conclusion. He emphasized that if members of the military, people of all different races, genders, sexualities, and political affiliations could work together, then so should the representatives of America's government. Let me re-emphasize, we are not going to get anywhere if people don't compromise. Stubbornness is not the route to take when we're in a recession. This is another reason why Congress should get its act together and pass the damn payroll tax cut. It's a piece of legislation basically begging for compromise. Come on Congress! You can do it!
      Topics I don't support/am not in agreement with: The American exceptionalism B.S. Obama knows American is not the best at everything. He knows that America is not revered all around the world. He knows we're not always looked to for advice. Or maybe he doesn't know this, but if that's the case, he's one delusional, short-sighted president. So if he knows all this-and I have faith that he does-he should stop with the petty B.S. All he gets is a couple claps. Less talk, more action. Also, he could have saved some breath had he not proposed the whole federally changing the age one can leave high school of his/her own accord to age 18. It was irrelevant, idealistic, and, if the payroll tax cut won't even pass, somehow I doubt this proposal would. After all, education is reserved to the states. Last, I personally did not approve his new approach to environmental action. He point of view seemed to transition from that of an environmental paradigm to that of an energy paradigm. Clean energy, clean energy, clean energy. While I understand this was probably a necessary step to take to try to gain some GOP support, and that it could be beneficial to reducing the U.S.' environmental impact, I wish that America's values were different and I know Obama's are. In this case, it's too bad that he caved on this issue, but hey...I'm being a hypocrite, so I'm going to stop writing. Farewell.