{"id":5414,"date":"2012-01-25T07:16:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T12:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=5414"},"modified":"2012-01-25T10:04:34","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T15:04:34","slug":"how-will-obamas-agenda-affect-the-north-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/01\/25\/how-will-obamas-agenda-affect-the-north-country\/","title":{"rendered":"How will Obama’s agenda affect the North Country?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook) and Bill Owens (D-Plattsburgh) show their bipartisanship at last night's State of the Union speech (PHOTO: Rep. Richard Hanna's office)<\/p><\/div>\n

So as the In Box begins to transition into full election season mode, here’s a thread to discuss last night’s state of the union address.<\/p>\n

Early reactions from Republicans in the North Country were mixed.\u00a0 Rep. Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook) — whose district stretches up to Saranac Lake — said he thought some bipartisanship is possible in Washington this year.<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cI firmly believe 2012 has the potential to be a year of growth and recovery for our country, if we make the right choices.\u00a0 Specifically, I think there are five areas with which we can find common ground.\u00a0 They include: comprehensive tax reform that creates a simpler and more fair tax code, regulatory relief, the expansion of domestic energy production, infrastructure investment, and bureaucratic consolidation and reform.\u00a0 These are all areas which will directly help our country\u2019s hardworking families, small business owners, and farmers, while ensuring our nation returns to a path of fiscal responsibility.\u00a0 My constituents want Washington to achieve results and I\u2019m confident that, working together in an era of divided government, we can do just that. <\/span>Additionally, as a former soldier, I appreciated the President\u2019s recognition of the fine work our men and women of the military have conducted as well as the parallel he drew between their missions around the world and what we need to accomplish here at home.<\/span>\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Matt Doheny, the Republican who hopes to challenge Democrat Bill Owens in November, was far more critical.<\/div>\n
\n
In tonight\u2019s State of the Union address, President Obama offered his vision for an \u201cAmerica built to last.\u201d But what our commander in chief actually presented was a nightmare.The Obama blueprint is to create a \u201cfair\u201d society, in which government uses its heavy hand to try and erase the disparity between poor and rich. The president\u2019s assumption is that government can devise a more equitable society than the people can themselves create.<\/p>\n

I could not disagree more.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our founding fathers envisioned a country where everyone was guaranteed equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. In suggesting \u201ceveryone does their fair share,\u201d Obama is hoping to channel populist frustrations over income inequality into a justification for taking more from the wealthy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So what do you think?\u00a0 Did Obama hit the right notes for you last night?\u00a0 And how do you think the presidential contest will affect North Country races this fall — particularly what could be a very tight contest between Bill Owens and Matt Doheny?<\/p>\n

Comments welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So as the In Box begins to transition into full election season mode, here’s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6548,10,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}