State of the Union

Despite the fact that this speech was probably one of the most boring speeches in the history of Barack Obama, it was certainly an effective and dare I say, a safe speech. Not that I expected there to be much specificity but the fact remains that there was none to very little of it. One of the big things that stuck out in my mind was the President's promise to veto any bill with an earmark attached. Putting aside my support for the earmarking process in general, I think this promise is just a little bit of a pander to the public on something that they don't even understand. There is no question, however, that the President has the formal power to do as he as promised through his enumerated power to veto bills. The question is whether or not he will do so. In my opinion, this is either a legitimate move to cut down on spending, or it gives the President a nice excuse in which to veto legislation that may come with Republican authors.

The second most prominent and certainly the most lasting element of the speech was Salmon.

Moving beyond food, also known as "fish" to animal rights folk, The President also mentioned his desire to start investing the country in green technologies and creating green jobs. This cannot be done by the President alone however. This can only be done by an act of congress that will need to be signed by the President. All that Obama may do is recommend a budget to congress with his priorities in it and outlined. The President can only use his influence in this matter.

The President also made clear his desire to put a spending freeze at next years levels for the next five years. Unfortunately, not only is this a poor idea, but one that the President has the power to do. All he really has to do is veto any bill which adds to the Budget Deficit. This is an issue both parties are likely to get behind.

This speech was an effective demonstration of how President Obama wishes to start compromising with the Republican Party. He gives a lot of power here to be left up to the Congress and reserves some for making his own decisions.

Changing the Presidency

Contrary to popular belief in this country, I do not believe our governmental system is flawless. Yes, it has withstood a huge test of time and generally works and is accepted by a large portion of America, but I believe that our system that serves us well does not necessarily serve us the best. The Presidency, as laid out in Article II of the Constitution is terribly flawed. In some areas, our executive has too much power such as his ability to wage war as he or she needs no initial congressional approval. In the area of legislation however, I believe the President doesn't have enough power in the creation and approval of legislation and that the signing/veto principle is useless and serves nothing except to make the passing of each and every bill a partisan issue

First, overall I would prefer to do away with the Presidential system we have now and create a parliamentary system not unlike that of the United Kingdom where the head of our government would be elected by the legislature, be a member of that body, and have the same legislation rights as any other member of the legislature. I don't believe that a nearly powerless "Head of State" figure like the Queen is necessary but I suppose it wouldn't matter if we elected a figurehead "President" just for fun. I think a parliamentary system is easier to work with as there are less hurdles for a bill to go through to become law, allowing more things to get done with an exact agenda created by the Prime Minister instead of our current system where our President has to use multiple different people to introduce his agenda into congress, before it inevitably gets changed nearly beyond recognition.

An important power I would take away from our executive is the power to pardon anyone he or she sees fit. It is outrageous that we would invest so much power in one person to undermine the justice system of our country. This power allows the president to have people commit crimes for him, and have them feel safe because if they are caught, the President just has the power to pardon them. This practice is no longer necessary or relevant and must be stopped.

I suggest we also remove the powers given to the President under the War Powers Act. This takes waging war from being an issue of the state, to being an issue of the Administration. Due to the effect a war has on the entire nation, I believe the waging of that war should be approved immediately by representatives of the entire nation.