State of the Union Speech — Transcript Analyzed

I didn’t watch the broadcast but the official transcript of President Obama’s State of the Union speech is available on our government-sponsored news site. Some parts that I found interesting…

Let me start with the economy, and a basic fact: the United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. We’re in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the ’90s; an unemployment rate cut in half.

I’m guessing that the TV show did not present the falling labor force participation rate in the U.S. or the flat rate in Singapore (note: Americans produce about 65 percent as much, per capita, as people in Singapore (CIA)).

In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing Pre-K for all,

… so that they will do worse in school starting in second grade (Atlantic).

Health care inflation has slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single month since [Obamacare] became law.

With immigration swelling the population numbers, if businesses weren’t creating jobs every month there would be a catastrophic decline in the labor force participation rate! (i.e., the economy needs to create jobs every month to accommodate the new arrivals (chart)).

That spirit of discovery is in our DNA. We’re Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. We’re Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. We’re every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world.

Perhaps Obama is auditioning for a place on the next Turkish Airlines commercial. And Grace Hopper’s efforts on COBOL certainly helped a lot of older programmers keep their jobs circa 1997-1999. But, when we adjust for population size, can Americans claim to excel in the “spirit of discovery” compared to other groups? And does a spirit of discovery lead to long-term economic success? The Portuguese and Spaniards discovered a lot more of Planet Earth than have Americans and yet they have not been prospering recently.

We’ve launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day.

Could it be that the “online tool” he is talking about is a pharmacy selling Clomid? And the business yields a tax-free return starting either after about three months or after nine? If not, Obama’s statement is hard to square with the fact that the U.S. is not among the top 10 countries for “economic freedom.”

Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer.

Nixon was right back in 1971!

Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it.

Lesson for listeners: Millions of people will listen to you talking in an authoritative tone about science even if there is no evidence of you having taken a college-level science or math class.

The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined.

Why do we have enemies then? If money buys effective military power, shouldn’t all of our enemies have been defeated by now?

The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia.

If their conflicts date back millennia, why would you admit millions of these folks to the U.S. as immigrants and expect them to stop fighting?

For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISIL’s financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons.

These guys are tough enough to out-fight the military forces of 60 countries and to survive in spite of 10,000 air strikes.

If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL.

Our military dropped bombs 10,000 times on people without authorization from Congress?

That’s how we forged a Trans-Pacific Partnership to open markets, protect workers and the environment, and advance American leadership in Asia. It cuts 18,000 taxes on products Made in America, and supports more good jobs.

My friend who runs a software-heavy company certainly would agree with this, as long as Obama meant “supports more good jobs in Vietnam.” The CEO recently fired all of the California-based programmers and replaced them with programmers in Hanoi.

Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, setting us back in Latin America.

The Castro brothers apparently weren’t afraid of our expensive military.

Right now, we are on track to end the scourge of HIV/AIDS…

… because there is no way that HIV can evolve to become resistant to whatever drugs we develop. It didn’t happen with bacteria and antibiotics so it won’t happen with a virus. (And did Obama show a picture of the American scientist who discovered HIV?)

That is why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: it’s expensive, it’s unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies.

If he has been president for 7 years, with a Congress controlled by his own party for at least part of that time, why hasn’t he succeeded in shutting down Guantanamo? And can it be reopened as a Club Med for Bostonians? The overnight low will be 15 degrees tomorrow!

That’s why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion.

There will be no more affirmative action or other race-based policies then?

I see it in the American who served his time, and dreams of starting over – and the business owner who gives him that second chance.

… because his criminal record makes him ineligible for a lot of government jobs (“Christmas Spirit: Statute of limitations on teenage misbehavior?”) that would pay better (CATO).

Readers: What interested you about the speech and/or any responses from other politicians?