he's asking for america to stop being apathetic...
that may just be a nutshell of the state of the union, but he pretty much called everyone out: media, congress, and the courts. one of the points was essentially, they all need to do their jobs of providing for the people that rely on them. it's more of an idea that i've been able to enjoy be traveling overseas: people looking towards something bigger than themselves; playing their hands towards the future.
but this wasn't supposed to be about President Obama's very inspiring (what else is new; probably the best speeches that we've heard since Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abe Lincoln before that) State of the Union address, but the way that we the people seem to look at him. i don't think that most US citizens even know what the responsibilities of the president of the US are... that points to our role in the apathy by the way.
the thing that points to this though is how we talk about the president as having done nothing in his year in office. well what is the president's duties? take a look at Article II of the US Constitution. when you read that, i'd say that since FDR in particular, the majority of our presidents have done far more than they have been called to do constitutionally; both good and bad. so can you really say that Obama has done nothing?
i'm going to step out on a limb as someone that has been on the fence about Obama being elected and say i think that he's doing his job. i'm upset with congress however who can't seem to get anything done. the president is far more in tune with the needs of this nation than the congress elected to create legislation on the people's behalf not their own.
"we were elected to serve our citizens, not our own ambitions" (Obama tonight) is something that i've really believed in for many, many years. it's something that i tried to apply in my years in student government (which seems like eons ago) and in my life in general. it's tough to move forward though - as i learned in high school - if you can't get your political colleagues on the same servant mentality. i hope that they will heed the call and not just nit-pick the things that Obama said he wanted to get done when it is truly their job to get done what we the people want done. until then ---