Last Wednesday I watched the broadcast of President Obama's first
State of The Union address – a Constitutionally-mandated report that a
sitting president has to relay to Congress "from time to time"
but that has become an annual custom that has been observed by
virtually every holder of that officesince Washington (I did not do much research on that, so please do
not email me back telling me that I forgot about somebody).
Having been the very first time I sat through such an address (I
would normally just read the highlights the next day on the New York
Times), I must confess that I was a bit bored by all the pomp and
circumstance – the constant applauding between sentences, the forced
smiles and everything else. Having said that, I should say that I was
impressed by the manner in which the US president was firm in his
speech. Though some thought he might bring down his guard on health care
after the Democratic defeat in the state of Massachusetts over a week
ago, he proved that he is still firm on his plan to restore the nation's
in spite of the drawbacks and the open criticism he has been getting of
late.
For those who have been following my latest commentary (which is also
published in my blog www.ebarteldes.wordpress.com and on
The Greenwich Village Gazette
www.gvny.com,
I have
been an early supporter of the health care plan. Mind you, I am not a
registered Democrat of a
Republican (I'm not registered with any specific party, for that
matter), but being someone who
works part-time as a college instructor and as a freelance
journalist, I directly feel the pain that
many Americans feel on this subject.
What the Tea Partyers have failed to understand is that if the system
stays as it is – with health care being attached to full-time
employment, the cost of health insurance will just increase as hordes of
uninsured continue to fill emergency rooms to get treatment they cannot
afford... and going bankrupt in the process. In the end, taxpayers end
up footing the bill, because many hospitals end up being stiffed by
those very customers, and then they end up depending on more and more
government funding in the end.
I also thought that it was very brave of the President to speak up
towards the end of 'don't ask, don't tell' in the military. At a time
when referendums have been very damaging to the gay movement in the
United States, to hear the president speak in support of 'gay Americans
who wish to serve their country' was refreshing.
But the fact is that this country is horribly polarized between blue
and red states, black and white, gay and straight and everything else.
Bringing this country back to 'One Nation' will not be an easy task – I
don't even know how one could begin to do so. And judging by the faces
and reactions of the Congressmen and women sitting on the right (and by
the GOP's lame rebuttal), this isn't happening anytime soon.
As Sheryl Crow said in her song, "God Bless This Mess"
