Dear Commons Community,

Last night, President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address to the nation.  There were no surprises as he spoke about a lot of the issues that he has discussed in the past – the economy, tax reform, infrastructure, clean energy, education, immigration, etc.   The speech was approximately one hour and he received 78 rounds of applause from mostly the Democrats in the chamber.  Some of the highlights were as follows:

On social security:  “we must keep the promises we have already made”

On the stagnation in Washington:  “the greatest nation on Earth cannot keep drifting from one manufactured crisis to another “

On government: “we don’t need bigger government – we need smarter government”

On infrastructure:  “ we need to repair the 70,000 bridges in this country that have been found to be structurally deficient”

On gun control:  “the victims of Sandy Hook deserve a vote”

On pre-schooling:  “we need to give our kids a chance”

On high schools:  “At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between the New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineering.”  Those of us here at CUNY can be especially proud of the mention of our university.

One of the most touching moments was when he singled out Desiline Victor, a 102-year old woman who waited six hours to vote in Florida.  She was in the audience and received a standing ovation.

Click here to access a video and full text of the President’s Address.

Tony