Review of the of President Obama's speech

President Obama made his State of the Union speech  last night, as I expected a large part of the speech was decidated to the US economy. 

President made an impassioned plea for better pay for low paid workers and for Congress to work with him pass some bills.

President Obama discussed the successes of the Affordable Care Act and how it was changing people lives. 

It was great that President Obama talked about the NSA and making sure that they do not over reach their power in the future.  

From an international prespective it was good that he discussed the withdrawing of troops from Afghanistan and regulating the drone programme. Giving more assistance to Syrian opposition. 

Overall President Obama made a good speech and but some pundits have said it was quite a predictable speech. 

I don't think that is always a bad thing as President Obama was developing topics from last year. 

As usual the Democrats where very appreciative of his speech whilst the Republicans looked largely unmoved by his speech. 

So it look like the  President has another partisan year of politics to look forward to. Where he will probably make some progress but with very little help from the Republicans. 

Preview to President Obama's State of the Union address

Tonight President Obama will make his State of the Union address and there are various topics which I think he will touch on. 

Firstly he will talk about the US economy and how things have greatly improved in the last year or so but will probably state how there is a lot more to do and this is difficult without the help of Congress. 

Secondly he might talk about the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare and how after it's initial teething problems the act is greatly benefiting many Americans. 

Thirdly on the international front he might talk about Syria and how the America needs to bring world leaders together to end the current crisis. 

The topics I hope President Obama will discuss is firstly doing more to limit access to guns and I hope he worries less about the gun lobbyist. 

Secondly I hope he will talk about the NSA and hopefully he plans to ensure they do not abuse their power. 

Thirdly I hope on international he will talk about Afghanistan and how handing of power back to the Afghans is going. 

So there is a lot for President Obama to discuss and is approval rating is back up to 50% and this means that Americans are reasonably happy with his Presidency but he has a lot of work to do! 

NSA fallout

The NSA spying fallout doesn't seem to be dying down anytime soon.

It has gone from citizens around the world being concerned about the USA government outreach. To upsetting world leaders like Angela Merkel. 

The more we learn about the murky world of spying the more intrusive and outrageous it sounds. 

However I am from the view point that it is a necessary evil to counteract terrorism. 

But there clearly needs to be boundaries and the NSA have clearly over reached these boundaries. 

So it is very important to protect our civil liberties but at the same being to protect the public from potential terrorist attacks. 

The political fallout has been messy with the White House failing to control the narrative or reassure the public that spying is neccessary tool to use.

President Obama needs direct the narrative and this will help gain more public support. 

The fact is nobody likes to feel like they are being watched, but a better control of the narrative can go a long way.