Obama Tackled Bankers’ Bonuses

The leader of the White House tried to please every common American.

U.S. President Barack Obama presented an address on “The State of the Union.” His main focus was on domestic policy. Obama mentioned Russia within the context of the finalized negotiations with Moscow on a new treaty regarding armaments control.

Barack Obama’s speech on Wednesday was over an hour long and focused primarily on economic issues. Obama continued with an attack on Wall Street bankers, who have awarded themselves huge bonuses. The leader underlined that he cannot tolerate the bank rescue plan, which resulted in spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars in order to save America’s financial giants. The president attempted to make everyone understand his hatred for the bail out of moneybags by comparing this measure with a necessary root canal treatment. But, just as would be the case with a visit to the dentist, there was barely a choice. Now, since the storm has passed and the financial institutions are repaying the bail out money they received from the government, Obama proposes additional fees on big banks.

The president expressed his disapproval of Republicans by naming them as responsible for blocking Democratic initiatives in the Capitol and the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as for allowing corporations to finance election campaigns. Regarding the latter case, the president even expressed his concern about the possibility of outside interference in American elections by foreign corporations. Finally, he dispraised the lobbyists.

This year, the White House’s leader is mostly concerned with the creation of jobs. In order to improve the current situation, in which every tenth American cannot find work, Obama is ready to take measures that might cause discontent among his foreign partners. The White House proposes tax relief for companies that manufacture goods in America and tax increases for outsourcing companies. Exports ought to double within five years.

The U.S. leader tried to please every common American by promising benefits such as the clearance of students’ college loans, financial aid for Americans increasing their homes’ energy efficiency and support for the improvement of small businesses’ access to loans.

The part of the speech focusing on foreign policy appeared to be significantly less innovative. Here, the main message for voters was that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are about to come to an end. Afghan security forces will start to assume responsibility for their country in July 2011 and all U.S. combat troops will have left Iraq by the end of this August.

Russia was mentioned once in the speech. Obama suggested that the threat of nuclear weapons is “perhaps the greatest danger to the American people.” Embracing the notions of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, he emphasized that he aspires to restrict the spread of these weapons and create a nuclear-free world. “To reduce our stockpiles and launchers while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades,” Obama said. On Wednesday, the Kremlin’s press service reported on Obama and Dmitry Medvedev’s negotiations by telephone. The nations’ leaders “objectively discussed current issues regarding Russian-American relations, including the subject of the possible signing of a new treaty on strategic offensive weapons in the near future.” “During a recently completed negotiation round in Moscow, the presidents expressed satisfaction with the achievement of significant progress in the preparation of signing a new treaty on strategic offensive weapons and agreed to give the instruction to their delegations to provide the technical completion of the document,” the press service reported.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London for the last two days, stated that the agreement on the treaty will be completed within the next few weeks. “The delegations in Geneva resume their work next week. They have precise parameters for these issues, which are still waiting for approval. We estimate that they will complete their work within a couple of weeks,” said the minister.

Meanwhile, time is pressing. In April, Obama plans to meet with representatives of 44 countries in Washington for a nuclear security summit. The meeting’s goal is to wholly ensure security of nuclear materials in the entire world within four years. Also, the Review Conference on negotiations on the restriction of the spread of nuclear weapons takes place this year. Without an agreement in the Russian-American negotiations on a strategic offensive weapons treaty, it is unlikely that the conference will achieve notable successes in the stabilization of a nuclear weapons restriction policy.