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Joe Peyronnin: Our Sputnik Moment

Reut Cohen |
January 25, 2011 | 11:57 p.m. PST

Opinion Editor

(Photo by Marc Nozell, Creative Commons)
(Photo by Marc Nozell, Creative Commons)
Unlike Kevin McCullough who didn't care for the president's reference to Sputnik in the State of the Union, Joe Peyronnin, NYU journalism professor, appreciated the president's call for national innovation and development.

Writing for The Huffington Post, Peyronnin feels the president issued important challenges relating to clean energy and innovation. Here's an excerpt:

President Barack Obama delivered an uplifting and hopeful State of the Union address to the nation that was long on innovation, education and infrastructure. The atmosphere seemed to reflect the mood in America and on Capitol Hill since the Tucson shootings.

In a bipartisan gesture, the president congratulated the new members of the 112th Congress, and newly elected House Speaker John Boehner. He then noted the Chamber's empty chair, "we pray for our friend Gabby Giffords." The members responded with a standing ovation.

The president said that "contentious debates" are good in a "robust Democracy." However the president's tone throughout was conversational and steady, rather than pointed. This was not the eloquent speech that the president is capable of delivering. Instead, he thoughtfully directed his remarks toward the future rather than focus on the past. "What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together," the president said referring to the evening's mixed seating arrangement, "but whether we can work together tomorrow."

His theme was, "We need to out innovate, out educate and out build the rest of the world." This line was welcomed with a standing ovation. Then the president followed with, "This is our Sputnik moment." Hopefully most of the 70 per cent of Americans not yet born when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite understood the message....

Read it all here.

What are your thoughts on President Obama's State of the Union?



 

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