Obama – American History to 1877

January 29, 2014

State of the Union: A Commentary

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In President Obama’s State of the Union Address, he touches upon a variety of issues critical to the future of the United States of America. The cornerstones of Obama’s administration were all mentioned, including lengthy periods of space dedicated to discussing pressing issues such as economic growth, technology, unemployment, energy, immigration, healthcare, and equality.

However, underlying every issue discussed was a central message from President Obama. This message was simple. The citizens of the United States need to come together collectively, as an American people, in order to achieve a successful future. The volatile arguments between the various political powers in the United States have to stop, or at least subside to a point where at least some progress can be made. To put it bluntly; America must become unified again.

This in my opinion is a fair and fascinating argument. In class, we’ve been studying the very beginnings of this nation. The foundational building blocks of the United States of America. At this point in our studies, the United States has yet to form into a cohesive nation. We’re reminded that the land where we now live was founded, colonized, and made inhabitable by a variety of different nations that we are no longer affiliated with. And yet, somewhere between the beginnings of this nation, and where we find ourselves now, an American identity was formed. A variety of people with different backgrounds managed to come together to forge this nation through a great deal of bloodshed, sweat, and toil. I feel as if we sometimes take this fact for granted.

Obama is also quick to point out that “those at the top have never done better.” Moreover, he states that “inequality has deepened,” and that “upward mobility has stalled.” In light of our recent studies, I found Obama’s statements particularly meaningful. The initial colonizers came to North American for a variety of different reasons, mainly religious and economic ones. The ability to climb the social latter in England and other parts of Europe had stalled, and people came to the New World looking to improve their fortunes. Thus this nation was at least partially founded on the basis that through hard work and dedication, one could improve their social standing in life. However, in recent times, it appears as if this notion is fading. Poverty has risen at alarming rates, and as Obama mentioned, the ability for Americans to improve their lot in life has increasingly become more difficult. I find it somewhat startling to see that this nation is possibly regressing once again in regards to social mobility.

Overall, I found Obama’s speech extremely compelling. The historical parallels that could be drawn to our lessons in class were extremely interesting, and helped deepen my understanding and appreciation for many of Obama’s arguments.

January 29, 2014

State of the Union Address

President Obama’s Address to the country last night began with stories of hard working Americans who represent the country as a whole. Especially during the beginning of his speech, and also throughout, the President used pathos to make himself appeal to the average citizen. The way in which he chose stories of empowerment and success when describing the new Health Care, military support, and education reforms shows similarities to when the English colonists were attempting to persuade their fellow English to join them in the New World by exaggerating the truth and only describing the good of the colony, and not the bad.

The main point of Obama’s speech was to express his concern for the unemployed and to create more jobs. In England during the colonization period, there were plenty of people to work but not enough jobs, and in the colonies, there was plenty of work but not enough people to fill all of the jobs. Unemployed English moved to the New World upon the promises of jobs and prosperity. It seems as though the country has now come full circle, since corporations move overseas and put many out of work. The unemployment state could be compared to that of England during the colonization period, yet the jobs have now started to come back from overseas.

Obama also made the push in his speech for immigration reform. Immigrants founded this country; in school it seems that students are taught that Europeans solely shaped the United States. Yet from reading Inhuman Bondage, one would see that in fact African immigrants played just as large of a part in shaping the country, although brought against their will in the form of slavery.

In all, this country has come far from what it was in the colonization days in a short amount of time. The United States is a young country, but recognized as the worlds dominate power. The issues that Obama described and promised to fix in his speech were all hot issues now, but many stemmed or were similar to issues that had been around since the days of colonization.

January 29, 2014

State Of The Union

Seeing a black president stand in front of a room of (mostly) white, grey-haired men was more powerful than ever after reading Inhuman Bondage this week on a history of the enslavement of Africans in the New World. Although Obama is no descendent of slaves (his father was born in Africa), the historical treatment of Africans and blacks in the US is unfathomable when paired next to our first Africa American president. In Obama’s lifetime, MLK was shot, and despite this, he now is delivering the state of the union. Obama is a symbol of the American dream that he kept referencing; the belief in opportunity for everyone, regardless of race, age, gender, etc., and an ability of upward mobility regardless of where or to whom you were born.

While there are still too many class and racial differences in opportunities in society today, as shown by Obama’s focus on “young men of color” and on women, the country has come far within the 200+ years of its existence.

I found it interesting that Obama focused on the “broken immigration system”. As the son of an immigrant himself, he failed to mentioned that this country was built and founded by immigrants. As we saw through the Inhuman Bonding reading, much of what made this country become so successful was its huge importation of immigrants. Additionally, contrasting this to our readings on the essentially mass genocide of Indians — the only non-immigrants — it is interesting to see how problems with the “other” has always been a problem in America, even if the perspectives has changed.

In addition to this, our readings have all shown the economic and financial drive that colonizing countries had in the New World. I found it interesting that Obama backed almost all statements he made by the economic gains America can or has achieved, and how many of his proposals will add to the economy or not “add a dime to the deficit”. It was also interesting to hear that in the first time in a long time, manufacturers are considering moving production back to the US from China; America is now a place to invest. This is similar to the colonizing countries, who also saw the New World as a place to invest. This will also help boost and strengthen the middle class, another point Obama emphasized. The history of this country that we’ve learned in class so far is almost all low- to middle-class families migrating to America in order to obtain and work the land outside of being a tenant on a duke’s land. Many American ideals rely on a robust middle class to keep the country functioning and keep the country self-reliant.

Obama ended his State address by committing to the constitutional ideals. “America has never come easy”, he stated. All the readings and lectures for class so far has proved this, from malaria and other diseases, to failed colonies, starvation, cold winters, enslavement, and more. It should be fun to fill in the gap from where we are in class to where we are today (or at least up until 1877).