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The State of the Union address had the theme "build America to last" with heavy emphasis on jobs. I want to know why now? This is where Mr. Obama should have placed his emphasis when he first took office instead of health care reform.
In March of 2009, he said that not only are most of the jobs that were moved offshore not going to come back, but that we did not need or want them to do so because they would be bad for the economy. After three years of continuing high unemployment it would seem Mr. Obama was mistaken about the last part.
I strongly feel that we must bring these jobs back, and that we must use an all-of-the-above approach to energy, but the timing of this push by Mr. Obama makes it look much more like election tactics rather than genuine interest. It seems a lot like how the issue of immigration reform is trotted out every four years to entice the Hispanic voters and then forgotten until the next election.
It is also disturbing that we do not hear more about our trade policies. Yes, the SOTU mentioned recent agreements, but those agreements benefit our partners almost immediately while our companies must wait as long as five years to see improved terms. This does not seem like a good deal for us.
Mr. Obama has said nothing of how our trade relations with China have impacted our economy other than to say we must revise our tax codes. Yes, that is badly needed, but it is our trade policies and acceptance of restrictions placed upon us by the WTO, combined with China's continued abuse or ignoring of the WTO agreements that is the real culprit. Why has nothing been done about this?
I close with questions for Mr. Obama. Mr. President, do you support Harry Reid's efforts to bring Chinese manufacturing interests into our domestic energy projects? If it is bad that we buy so many products manufactured in China, is it not worse than we must obtain our new jobs from them, as well? Is it wise to have China heavily involved with energy production when that is so intertwined with our national security?
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