By Janis Hazel
Featured
Posted: February 12, 2012 at 03:27 pm
President Barack Obama’s second State of the Union address unsurprisingly focused on job creation while challenging all Americans to keep the United States competitive in the global marketplace.
“Sustaining the American dream has never been about standing pat,” President Obama said. “It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age. Now it’s our turn.”
Repeatedly encouraging Americans to “win the future” through creativity, the president compared the current need for innovation in technology to the space race against the Soviet union in the 1950s and 1960s. “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” said the president, referring to the world’s first earth-orbiting manmade satellite launched by the communist nation in October 1957, which resulted in the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Act (NASA). “Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t even there yet. NASA didn’t exist,” he said. “But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.”
Speaking for a little more than an hour, President Obama challenged all Americans to work together to move this nation forward. “The future is ours to win. But to get there, we can’t just stand still,” he said. “We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, outeducate and out-build the rest of the world. We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business.”
James Mitchell, president of the National League of Cities (NLC), reflecting on President Obama’s speech agreed with the vision. “The National League of Cities shares the President’s vision for our nation’s future in investing in education,(...)
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