Riley Buyskes
Stratford High School
The state of the union address is a very important speech given by the president, debatably the most important because it lays all the issues of the country out on the table for all government officials in the US to see and assess, and it allows not only the president to give his opinions, but it allows the group to have a voice by their reactions and opinions on the topics the president brings up.
This reassessment of our country is so necessary for us to continue being the powerful country that the US has remained for years, and the transparency is quintessential to our government continuing to stay afloat, especially when there are issues which have the possibility to provoke that.
In recent years the divide and battle between Democrats and Republicans has become exceedingly more prominent in our country. During president Joe Biden’s State of the Union address which he gave on February 9, 2023, he addresses this issue as a major chunk of his speech, and makes this a point introductory to the speech, proving that to him and to our government that it is an important issue in our country.
He starts by simply thanking his coworkers and those who have benefitted America in the past year, mentioning the new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, the first black minority leader in history, Hakeem Jefferies, Nancy Pelosi, etc., but after this he speaks on the divide between the parties, even addressing Republicans directly, saying “To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress.” He also says that Cemocrats and Republicans have come together various times in the past and in the coming years it is essential that they do so again.
This point that he makes is so important for our country because when it is typical to discuss outside threats and issues that are affecting our country, it is hardly mentioned the corruption inside our own government often times in speeches like these.
Another point that he makes during the speech is the discussion of our economy, which at the moment is so important because of the crisis that our current economy and stock market are in. he goes on to say that we must “restore the soul of our nation” and to rebuild the middle class, and he says that over time our country has become pride less, that we’ve lost our fundamental ideals. He points out that once thriving cities have become “shadows of what they once were.” His overall claim is that we must build our economy from the bottom up, rather than the top down like he says we are currently doing.
He says that by doing this and by creating a strong middle class, it’ll raise the poor up as well and continue to support the upper class. This topic in Biden’s speech was imputed because it is a topic which is major in our country at the moment because of the risk of us reaching our debt ceiling, and his reassessment of the issue and his solution to it is critical to change taking place.
Although the points given in this speech are strong and essential for our country’s growth, I do think there are still flaws with the speech given by Biden. He goes over so many issues, and gives us so many solutions during this speech, that it makes me wonder how much of these promises he can actually keep.
I think although his words are strong, I’m not completely certain he is going to actually go through with these solutions, which isn’t totally the fault of our president but it is also the fault of the overall clockwork of our country and just how serious some of these issues are.
For example, the issue of the economy. We have tried to alter the system of our economy time and time again, constantly altering it to try to find the perfect solution, but all our attempts inevitably become fruitless, only becoming lessons to learn from. The economy ebbs and flows naturally, and in my opinion I do not think any efforts can stop it. Right now we are close to hitting rock bottom, but I do not believe that is going to change from us trying to switch our ways, the economy will naturally rise again.
Also the issue of disagreements within our government is also contributing to the faults of this address. We saw various times throughout the speech that plenty of people in the room did not agree with Biden’s points, and with there being disagreement within our system that lowers the guarantee of them ever getting anything done.
