Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

Delivering a jobs-focused State of the Union address before a packed chamber in the United States House of Representatives, President Barack Obama on Tuesday night struck a largely bipartisan note and unofficially launched his 2012 re-election campaign.

Effectively offering an olive branch to his Republican opposition after two years of bitter political division across most policy areas, Mr. Obama also warned that the U.S. risked losing out to countries such as India and China, which were pressing ahead with investments in education, technology and research.

“Nations like China and India realised that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world,” he said, adding, “So they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They are investing in research and new technologies.”

On the other hand, Mr. Obama said, the quality of the U.S.’ math and science education lagged behind that of many other nations and the country had fallen to the ninth place in terms of the proportion of young people with a college degree.

The President however highlighted the importance of emerging markets in spurring job creation in the U.S., as he argued, “Recently, we signed agreements with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs in the U.S. And last month, we finalised a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs.”

Kicking off his annual health report for the nation on an emotional note, Mr. Obama said “We are also mindful of the empty chair in this chamber, and we pray for the health of our colleague and... friend [Congresswoman Gabrielle] Giffords.”

He said that the tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, where Ms. Giffords was critically shot by a gunman on a rampage, reminded Americans that regardless of their background they were all part of “something more consequential than party or political preference.”

In arguing that it was imperative for the U.S. to retain its position as a global technology leader, Mr. Obama showcased recent examples of outstanding American innovation. Key among these was the story of small business owner Brandon Fisher, who, last October, helped design the capsule that ultimately saved the lives of miners trapped in a collapsed shaft in Chile.

Highlighting the importance of such innovation for job creation, clearly marked as the top policy priority for 2011 in the State of the Union speech, Mr. Obama said, “We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.”

Despite Mr. Obama’s focus on areas of agreement between the Democrats and the Republicans, many in the Opposition argued that he papered over serious differences of opinion between the two major parties.

While the President briefly alluded to tax code reform, deficit reduction and healthcare policy amendments towards the latter half of his speech, Congressman Paul Ryan, of the Republican Party, and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, of the Tea Party, criticised his approach to tackling these challenges.

Delivering successive speeches following Mr. Obama’s address, both Mr. Ryan and Ms. Bachmann criticised the President’s failure to rein in the burgeoning federal deficit and to cut down government control of the U.S. economy.

“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 Internal Revenue Service agents in charge of policing President Obama's health care bill,” Ms. Bachmann said.

However Mr. Ryan acknowledged that some of the economic problems that the U.S. faced were engendered by Republican administrations. He said, “There is no doubt the President came into office facing a severe fiscal and economic situation.”

Yet he argued, “Unfortunately, instead of restoring the fundamentals of economic growth, he engaged in a stimulus spending spree that not only failed to deliver on its promise to create jobs, but also plunged us even deeper into debt.”

Despite Ms. Bachmann’s repeated attacks on “Obama-care” Mr. Obama sought to keep the lines of communication with Republicans open on healthcare reform.

He said, “Let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you... What I am not willing to do is go back to the days when insurance companies could deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition.”