Address to the Nation

[MrFun]

There is actually a reasonable case for saying the automobile is a US invention provided you care about the Selden patent from 1876. After all it was a good decade before anyone else came up with the idea of an internal combustion engine powering a carriage. It was certainly a decade before Benz built his though I could see a reasonable person saying that since Selden didn't actually build a car, only patented the idea of a car, that it shouldn't count.

good point

[Imran Siddiqui]

What?

Blaming the speechwriter absolves Presidents of anything they say during speeches.

[-Jrabbit]

It was a typically hard-charging Obama speech. Quite the orator, that man. Themes: energy, education, the economy. There was precious little talk about national defense and the war on terror, which is sure to make a lot of people very nervous.

It sounds like he's planning to bring back some form of AmeriCorps (essentially dumped by Reagan), requesting the Hatch-Kennedy bill rewarding national service be passed and sent to his desk.

He reiterated his campaign promise on tax cuts, and promised a $2500 tuition credit for college. He talked big on the budget, suggesting a lot of unneeded, non-productive programs would be chopped. I'm dubious that he (or any POTUS) can walk the walk. In the same vein, there's still this huge disconnect between spending in his first 5 weeks in office and his promise to halve the deficit by the end of this term. I don't see how it can be done.

BTW, someone needs to put a seatbelt on Nancy Pelosi. Her constant leap-up standing ovations were like watching someone do calisthenics.

[MrFun]

So Obama is not responsible for preparing to give his speech by reading it before hand?

[snoopy369]

People read speeches before they give them? WTF planet are you from?

[snoopy369]

In any event, I think you could make the argument that we invented the automobile in its current form - ie, the transportation method of the masses. The Benz automobile was certainly not something that the middle class of Germany were going to be using.

[MrFun]

People read speeches before they give them? WTF planet are you from?

I was taught in junior high, high school, and college to prepare for speeches by reading them before hand. WTF were my teachers thinking!?

[snoopy369]

American public school education

[OzzyKP]

It was a typically hard-charging Obama speech. Quite the orator, that man. Themes: energy, education, the economy. There was precious little talk about national defense and the war on terror, which is sure to make a lot of people very nervous.

It sounds like he's planning to bring back some form of AmeriCorps (essentially dumped by Reagan), requesting the Hatch-Kennedy bill rewarding national service be passed and sent to his desk.

He reiterated his campaign promise on tax cuts, and promised a $2500 tuition credit for college. He talked big on the budget, suggesting a lot of unneeded, non-productive programs would be chopped. I'm dubious that he (or any POTUS) can walk the walk. In the same vein, there's still this huge disconnect between spending in his first 5 weeks in office and his promise to halve the deficit by the end of this term. I don't see how it can be done.

BTW, someone needs to put a seatbelt on Nancy Pelosi. Her constant leap-up standing ovations were like watching someone do calisthenics.

AmeriCorps was started by Clinton.

[Ben Kenobi]

I've listened to a lot of MLK speeches

It's pretty similar to "I've seen the promised land".

[Ben Kenobi]

Just like Republicans attacked the stimulus plan for not doing enough to help home owners then one week later after Obama revealed his plan to help home owners the Repugs flip flopped and said helping home owners was bad. They're just the party of "NO" who will oppose anything no matter what it is as long as Democrats say it. Even if Obama incorporates their ideas/talking points into his plans. They're just obstructionists who have no new ideas and no plans to make America better.

I thought America was the land of the free. You want a better life? You want to make America better? What's stopping you, Oerdin?

[Ben Kenobi]

It sounds like he's planning to bring back some form of AmeriCorps (essentially dumped by Reagan), requesting the Hatch-Kennedy bill rewarding national service be passed and sent to his desk.

You mean the slavery bill?

There's no precedent for compulsory national service without compensation.

[OzzyKP]

It isn't compulsory. And the compensation is college funding.

[Zkribbler]

It's pretty similar to "I've seen the promised land".

No, it's not:

[-Jrabbit]

AmeriCorps was started by Clinton.

My bad. I was thinking of things like Head Start. Didn't want to turn this into a Reagan thread.