Obama’s State of the Union Address left a lot to be desired in terms of foreign policy. He only addressed Afghanistan briefly, only mentioned Iraq in terms of getting out, and didn’t mention Guantanamo at all. Much, I assume, to the dismay of protesters everywhere.
 

Fortunately though, Obama did mention the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy and his desire to rid the U.S. Military of the out dated rule. It was his first public announcement of support since Oct. 10, when he spoke at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. This, I believe will go a long way in actual progress in this area.
 

He also addressed the issue of nuclear energy, which is really refreshing. Nuclear energy is something that can, and will, really help America become self-sustaining in terms of energy. He followed this up with something completely contradictory: biofuels.
 

Biofuels will achieve the opposite of foreign reliance. There is simply not enough farming in America to sustain the amount of product that we would need to make that happen. And even if there were, it would be much more logical to use that food to feed people rather than make fuel out of it, considering how energy inefficient biofuel actually is.
 

The mention of helping college students out with our outrageous loans should be something that we are all enthralled about. He seemed to be willing to stretch the limits of anything that has been done before to lend us a hand. I hope he follows through with encouraging universities to lower their costs as well. If only private schools had to follow such advice.

-Jessica Huseman, Online Editor

In his State of the Union address, President Obama combined his newfound moderation, with his old determined self. It worked for him. He sounded humble, yet bold— pragmatic, yet hopeful. If he follows through with that tone, last night’s speech will go down as the turning point of his presidency.
 

Obama’s first year wasn’t great. Many people thought he spent too much time worrying about massive legislative projects and too little fixing the economy. Many analysts blame the recent, stunning Democratic loss in Massachusetts on this disconnect with the needs of the American people.
 

Obama seems to have learned from these mistakes. He made jobs the centerpiece of his speech. He proposed a $30 billion program to help small businesses. To move the American economy into the new decade, he proposed major new education initiatives, including financial aid to college students.
 

“One of the best anti-poverty programs is a first-class education,” he said. He pitched even his most ambitious programs, like environmental regulation, through the prism of the economy.
 

He also sounded more moderate than usual. He came out for nuclear power and offshore drilling. He proposed a freeze in discretionary spending on non-military and non-entitlement programs. He acknowledged the importance of banks to our economy even while chastising their recklessness.
 

But Obama made no apologies for being liberal. Despite the ever-growing opposition to the health care bill, he redoubled his efforts to get it passed. His case was persuasive enough to draw a standing ovation from the same Republicans that are doing everything they can to block the bill.
 

He credited the massive spend-fest of liberal pet projects the Democrats sold last year as stimulus for saving and creating two million jobs. Although most outside analysts doubt those numbers and many economists question the real value of the bill, Obama called on Congress to pass another. The message: Big government is here to stay.
 

 All in all, it was a reasonable speech. If Obama begins to exercise the caution and conciliation he promised last night, he’ll be able to keep pushing for the programs closest to his heart. Obama’s first official State of the Union will then be remembered as the speech that got him back on track.
 

-Nat French, Opinion Editor