Last night, in his fifth State of the Union address, President Obama vowed “a year of action” by assertively declaring his intention to pursue a series of executive actions that would allow him to rely less on our nation’s standstill legislature. The core of the speech, as with the four addresses that preceded it, concerned our nation’s persisting economic woes as Obama acknowledged that despite four years of economic growth, inequality has soared to unprecedented levels.
In order to “build ladders of opportunity” the President announced an increase in minimum wage to $10.10 for all new federal contract workers, as well as a host of increased incentives to shift jobs back to America and allow small businesses to thrive and grow. In order to substantiate this promise for increased economic growth and inclusive prosperity, Mr. Obama affirmed his intention to invest in two critical areas: job skills training and early childhood education.
As with many of his past speeches, there remains a profound disconnect between his hopeful vision and his own proposed budget. Despite Mr. Obama’s encouraging calls to invest in job training, education, information technology, and renewable energy, his speech did not address how he will increase government revenues to pay for these critical investments in our future. In fact, since Mr. Obama took office he has squeezed civilian discretionary spending in the budget, the already narrow sliver of the budget that includes all of these public investments, to all time lows.
While Mr. Obama’s address may work to reinvigorate a defeated nation, citizens ought to be vigilant in the coming months to see how our President grounds this rhetoric in a serious, long-term strategy.