President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Tuesday solicited different reactions from UCLA students, with some saying they think the nation is moving in the right direction and others saying they think not much has changed since the end of the recession.
During the speech, Obama cited the 11 million new jobs created over the past five years, shrinking deficits and an increase in domestic oil production as evidence that his policies, which he called “middle-class economics,” are working.
“The shadow of crisis has passed and the state of the union is strong,” he said.
Some UCLA students said they think the president is right that the nation is doing better economically.
“He’s delivered on a lot, and we’ve come a long way the past six years,” said William Wences, a fourth-year English and Latin student.
Others said they were more skeptical.
“I agree that the state of our union is strong, but I think that we are failing in certain areas such as job growth and wage growth,” said Alexander Rhim, a second-year mathematics student and the internal vice president of the Bruin Republicans.
In his speech, Obama announced he will be sending a plan to Congress to make two years of community college free.
“I want to spread that idea … that two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today,” he said.
Tanner Siciliano, president of the Bruin Libertarians, said he thinks this plan will not help students from lower-income backgrounds.
“Since poor people tend to work and not go to college, this plan will just take their taxes and use it to pay for rich people, who can afford the time to go college,” said Siciliano, a fourth-year mathematics/economics student.
When Obama announced the plan on Jan. 9, Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed, a fourth-year political science student and the Undergraduate Students Association Council transfer student representative, said she supported the plan because it would have alleviated a lot of financial pressure on her family.
Obama also asked Congress to close loopholes in the capital gains tax for the wealthy to pay for tax cuts for the middle class.
“We need a tax code that truly helps working Americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy and we can achieve that together,” he said.
Jacob Kohlhepp, external vice president of Bruin Republicans, and a third-year political science and economics student, said he thinks this policy is the wrong policy to take in a fragile economy.
Aret Frost, the president of the Bruin Democrats, said he thinks closing the tax loopholes creates a sense of equity in the tax system.
“I think that the people in the top 1 percent need to pay their fair share,” said the fourth-year political science student.
Chris Tausanovitch, an assistant professor of political science, said he thinks the proposals Obama introduced in the speech are part of a political strategy to pressure the Republicans.
“What the president is trying to do is set a contrast between Democrats and Republicans and challenge the Republicans to come up with alternatives to his plans,” he said.
Francisco Lopez-Flores, a fourth-year Chicana/o studies student, said he thinks the president is bolder as he reaches the last two years of his term.
“Obama’s made clear that he intends to take action, it’s up to Congress now,” he said.
Contributing reports by Ryan Leou, Bruin contributor.