President wishes holiday greetings, shares moral argument for current events
“All of us are striving to make a way in this world; to build a purposeful and fulfilling life in the fleeting time we have here.
A dignified life.
A healthy life.
A life, true to its potential.
And a life that serves others.”
Those were President Obama’s words in his Weekly Address. On a day that comes in the midst of Passover and on the eve of Easter Sunday, the President sought a moral appeal to people of all faiths; to believers and non believers alike, as the backdrop for various policy initiatives.
Implicit in the President’s remarks were several arguments giving context to recent developments in current events and public policy:
Job security and the ability to provide for one’s family is a matter of dignity.
A healthy life -- that of ourselves and our loved ones -- is of supreme importance.
And a strong, affordable education often serves as the foundation for an individual to reach his or her true potential.
The policy implications behind all of these moral aspects have been on full display over the past few weeks.
A life of dignity.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported what some have characterized as the most positive jobs report this country has seen in years. The U.S. economy saw 162,000 jobs created during the month of March. Still, the President acknowledged that, though these jobs numbers are a welcomed sign, much improvement is still needed. The Black unemployment rate, for example, ticked up to 16.8% (this after Black unemployment had previously seen a slight decrease the month before -- from 16.5% down to 15.8%). The President pledged to continue working on job growth, acknowledging that,
“We’ve begun to reverse the devastating slide, but we have a long way to go to repair the damage from this recession, and that will continue to be my focus every single day.”
Still, jobs numbers have been moving in a more positive direction over the past few months. MSNBC host, Rachel Maddow, gives a colorful analysis of the numbers:
As for “A healthy life” and “A life true to its potential“?
Well, those have taken center stage in just the past two weeks alone . . .
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:
The Health Care & Education Reconciliation Act:
After a very busy month, the President used this week’s address to stress the need to focus on common interests and remember the holiday spirit as we try to tackle our biggest problems together:
“So, on this Easter weekend, let us hold fast to those aspirations we hold in common as brothers and sisters, as members of the same family -- the family of man.”Here’s the President Obama’s Weekly Address:
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