State of the (Political) Union

Given that I am sitting in the UK I read President Obama's State of the Union Address this morning, and Representative Paul Ryan's response.

In my reading of President Obama's speech I picked up what I considered to be his 10 point program, and my understanding of his underlying message. The 10 points: Innovation; Education; Energy Policy; Illegal Immigration; Infrastructure; Tax Code; Exports; Health Care; Debt/Deficit; and Bipartisanship. The underlying message-"We have great challenges; we are a resilient people; and we can do this as one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I also tried to pick out 10 points from Mr Ryan's speech, and to summarize his underlying message. The former was difficult, and the latter crystal. So his 10 points were: Deficit/Debt; Overspending; Failed Stimulus; Failed Health Care; Limited Government; Self-Government; Comparing the USA to Greece, Ireland and the UK(!);and Poor Decisions made in Washington and Wall Street- and yes I know-I only found 8 points.

And the underlying message. It's all somebody else's fault.

I appreciate that both gentleman are positioning for the 2012 election so of course there would be political messages. I am also fully aware that Obama is an optimist bordering on the evangelical and so his speech was always intended to be uplifting.

What I hadn't realised was that it appears that the Republican leadership intends to continue with their negative approach despite the fact that they now command a majority in the House.

But I can overlook all that. What I can't ignore is his comparison of the US with Greece, Ireland, or even the UK. Are any of these nations about to overtake the US as the leading world economic power? Are they competing with us for global hegemony? I think not.

President Obama speaks of the need to work together for a successful American future. To rebuild at home and turn our energy towards combating our external challenges.

Representative Ryan speaks of cutting taxes and, frankly, cutting taxes. And ignoring the fact that our geopolitical rivals have stolen a march on us, and somehow, it's somebody else's problem.