History of economics summary of obama's speech - Essay Example

(Assignment) “The Sputnik Moment” President Obama, in his of the Union Address reminded America of the awaiting threat of another economic humiliation. He termed the crucial stage of developmental uncertainty as ‘sputnik moment’ as it would abase the nation’s stature, obviously outsmarted by the emerging economies like India and China. According to him, U.S. has got several things to learn from those economies for their fiscal policies especially with regard to education, infrastructure, and governmental investment in research.

Obama reflexes the moment when American supremacy got questioned by the USSR victory in space research through their historic achievement of ‘Sputnik mission’. The country maintained its figure by beating at the moon, but here has come up new challenges with varying difficulties to test ‘whether this nation would endure’ (remember Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address). As Craighill reports in Washington Post, 84 percent of speech-watchers responded positively to Obama’s speech. With regard to investment policy, Obama said that he would propose a new investment budget which aims at innovations in clean energy technologies and heavy reliance on nuclear power in order to meet the challenge of exceeding dependency on fossil fuel (McGreal).

The most potential aspect of Indian as well as Chinese model of investment he finds is their genuine concern in education especially in math and science. “Over the next ten years, nearly half of all new jobs will require education that goes beyond a high school degree” he reminded. He also reminds the Republicans who are skeptical about huge investments that “cutting the deficit by gutting our investment in education and innovation is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine”.

Obama intended to ensure the Republican support as he said they were at the moment to determine ‘if government’s growth is left unchecked and unchallenged’. He is sure about the favorable outcome of investing on education and research, which according to him would unleash a wave of new job opportunities. The economic logic he emphasis on is that only such basic strategic changes can bring forth sustainability in the long run. All other emergent strategies including cutting or borrowing will not meet the actual challenge but only intensify the persisting crisis.

It seems that Obama has been losing confidence since taking office. Obviously he was more optimistic at his previous State of the Union Address when he said that the governmental initiatives would combat the economic downturn efficiently in short term. In contrast, now the paucity of confidence compels him to seek Republican cooperation in sharing the responsibility of governmental failure. He says, “With their vote, American people determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties”.

Republican stance on Obama’s investment schemes is different as they believe that government should initially focus on addressing excess spending. However Obama reiterates the collective responsibility of all Americans on the added debt of $3 trillion in last 2 years. Although the president’s societal concern is substantial in itself, the fiscal measures he purports toward new investments and free healthcare tends one to be doubtful about the reliability of their economic outcome. Works Cited Craighill, Peyton.

“Polls: Public reaction to the state of the union mostly positive”. Washington Post, 26 Jan 2011. Web. 28 Jan 2001 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2011/01/public_reaction_to_the_state_o.html McGreal, Cris. “Obama’s State of the union address: US must seize sputnik moment”. Guardian, 26 Jan 2011. Web. 28 Jan 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/26/state-of-the-union-address-obama-sputnik-moment