Robert Reich: Why our Sputnik moment will fall short
[Robert Bernard Reich is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator.]
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was everything his supporters hoped it would be – dignified, thoughtful and moderate. It was a call for fiscal prudence at a time of growing budget deficits and a summons to improve competitiveness to counter the gravitational pull of the Great Recession. In short, it hit all the right notes. But there was no melody, at least none that was memorable.
It had been billed as Mr Obama’s first salvo of the 2012 election. It was his chance to give his version of why the economy fell into a hole, why so many Americans are still in it and what needs to be done. Instead, his speech could have been given (indeed, was given) by Democrats in the late 1980s when Japan seemed to threaten America’s pre-eminence – about the importance of investing in education, infrastructure and basic research in order to build competitive capacities. Only now the threat is from China.
A similar call came in the 1950s and 1960s, when the competition was from the Soviet Union. John F. Kennedy challenged America to go to the moon ahead of the Soviets. Mr Obama made the parallel explicit. “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” he said.
In many ways, the theme is as relevant now as then...
Read entire article at Financial Times (UK)
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address was everything his supporters hoped it would be – dignified, thoughtful and moderate. It was a call for fiscal prudence at a time of growing budget deficits and a summons to improve competitiveness to counter the gravitational pull of the Great Recession. In short, it hit all the right notes. But there was no melody, at least none that was memorable.
It had been billed as Mr Obama’s first salvo of the 2012 election. It was his chance to give his version of why the economy fell into a hole, why so many Americans are still in it and what needs to be done. Instead, his speech could have been given (indeed, was given) by Democrats in the late 1980s when Japan seemed to threaten America’s pre-eminence – about the importance of investing in education, infrastructure and basic research in order to build competitive capacities. Only now the threat is from China.
A similar call came in the 1950s and 1960s, when the competition was from the Soviet Union. John F. Kennedy challenged America to go to the moon ahead of the Soviets. Mr Obama made the parallel explicit. “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment,” he said.
In many ways, the theme is as relevant now as then...