The above word cloud was made from the transcript from President Obama’s State of the Union speech.
[su_row][su_column size=”1/2″]Adam Croft acroft2@uwyo.edu One of the prominent issues in last night’s State of the Union was naturally healthcare, which was treated as a resolved issue. President Obama used this perspective to emphasize that Congress is at fault for attempting to halt the progression of one of the greatest healthcare reforms in the history of Western politics and that they had better not do so again. In part he was right. Obama did not overstate the roadblock that Congress has presented with regards to the Affordable Care Act. They have caused one of the larger instances of gridlock in U.S. history. Obama was also right to attempt to discourage Congress from “re-fighting old battles”. No American stands to benefit from further scrutiny of the Affordable Care Act, 
and in the end it will only hurt the Republican agenda. However, President Obama would have been right to be more transparent about the obstacles the Affordable Care Act has encountered. Not once did he mention the complications the national health insurance website faced during its inception, nor did he mention the lower-than-expected registration numbers that the program has seen thus far. Although the State of the Union’s goal is to project optimism, Obama would have only gained by acknowledging the flaws in early healthcare reform, especially considering what he is asking of his opposition.[/su_column] [su_column size=”1/2″]Joel Funk jmacfunk@uwyo.edu The issue I anticipated, immigration, was somewhere in between being skirted and poignantly addressed. Each of President Obama’s past addresses made talking points of taking on immigration reform in a meaningful way, but has, at each turn in his time in office, been shuffled to the back seat among a number of other crises. Last night, the president acknowledged a perception that both sides of the political aisle in Washington were ready for reform as the issue of undocumented workers, children without proper education and medical patients of foreign-born origin with no insurance grows and become more dynamic in our own communities. Even majority speaker Boehner has leaned in support of comprehensive reform. He argued that including the millions of undocumented workers and their families would strengthen the country (and I do not think there is any argument he is wrong). He quickly transitioned into announcing Vice President Biden would lead across–the–board training reforms designed to train workers. In his education segment, he spoke at length about increasing access to higher education, improving the quality of early childhood education and increasing public school access to technology training. All this could prove beneficial for newly anointed citizens of the U.S. and their children, as long as it all comes to pass, of course. I hope hard talk yields hard results.[/su_column][/su_row]
[su_row][su_column size=”1/2″]Niko Kolis nkolis@uwyo.edu President Obama spoke very specifically towards his plans for raising the minimum wage during his State of the Union address. The said increase will occur, at least in the federal sector, with or without the approval of the Congress. While this appears to be a win-win situation for both legislators and the general populous, raising the minimum wage workers legally have to be paid is not such a simple endeavor. Firstly, at the beginning of Obama’s speech, he pointedly indicated the fact that almost 600,000 jobs have been added to the manufacturing sector of the job market in recent years, not to mention jobs added in the various subsets of the American economy. However, if minimum wage is raised by the nearly three dollar increase he has proposed, how many of these jobs will disappear? A minimum wage increase will prove to be extremely beneficial for the people who maintain the jobs they have. The unfortunate percentage that loses their jobs, due to an increase in production costs, will face the unfortunate reality of unemployment. A reality that will prove to be a detrimental drag on the overall financial recover of the American economy. The job market is harsh enough as is without
the added burden of a decrease in available jobs due to the simple fact that they could literally become worth more.[/su_column][su_column size=”1/2″]
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