A few thoughts on President Obama’s 2/25 speech

I listened to all of President Obama’s speech on Tuesday evening. Maybe it was because I have watched my retirement portfolio shrink by nearly 50% over the last year. Or it could have been that a number of my friends have lost their jobs. Or it could have been that a number of acquaintances are about to lose their homes. Or it could have been that our washing machine broke and I was sitting in a Laundromat and there was nothing else to do beside watch the clothes spin. For whatever reason I watched and listened to every one of the approximately 6,200 words that were included in his speech.

I, (like I would guess most people reading this blog) felt there were major issues that concerned me in the speech. A few of these are: that we control our destiny as opposed to God (Deut 28:1). I also have a hard time accepting the line of reasoning that the same government that got us into this mess will lead us out. Another principle of the recovery that seriously bothered me is that big government is the answer. And of course the unthinkable amount of debt (or bondage as Proverbs 22:7 properly identifies it– approximately 11 trillion dollars) that we are incurring. Yes, there were major concerns with what was included in the recovery plan laid out.

So once we look past the “800 pound gorilla” I did hear a few things in the speech that gave me some hope albeit not much. There was a brief section of the speech that addressed the pit falls of the “short term; quick fix; get rich quick” solutions. Since our constitution calls for our president and congress to be elected for terms ranging from 2 to 6 years this appears to be an inherit problem in our system. Regardless of the words, the motives for decisions more often than not appear to be reelection. This in turn fosters the quick fix mentality. Proverbs 28:22 and Proverbs 23:4-5 are just some of the verses that instruct us to be very leery of quick fix solutions.

Another theme that provided some encouragement was the tone of being responsible for our actions. The Bible is clear that we cannot blame others or simply ignore deeds and actions in our lives. (Galatians 6:4-5) Far too long huge financial issues have not been addressed or partisan politics points the finger at the other party. I did get a sense from the speech that it is time to take responsibility for our actions. We as a society (including the Christian community) have bought into modern day psychology that looks to blame others for our problems. I hope and pray that President Obama’s words are not hollow.

And then there was the last line of the President’s speech. How many times have we heard it? “…and may God bless the United States of America.” Mr. President, in all due respect, I know we are not Israel, but we can learn from what God told his chosen people about being a blessed nation by God. Deuteronomy 15 is a good place to start and especially Deuteronomy 15:6 where God described a blessed nation as one that will "…lend to many nations, but will borrow from none”. At the end of 2008 we owed over 3 trillion dollars to foreign countries.