Reaction to President Obama's speech: Conservative

I want to begin this article by stating that the University of Richmond's College Republicans were honored to have President Obama choose to speak at Richmond, or as one of my professors said it, "Eat your hearts out UVA, Virginia Tech and William & Mary."

Many of our members, myself included, attended the president's speech. I was proud that my chapter was so enthusiastic about seeing the president and hearing what he had to say.

A unique aspect of our chapter is that we are a truly eclectic group that encompasses a great diversity of beliefs: some of us are pro-legalization of marijuana, others are not; some of us are pro-choice, others are not; some of us are concerned about climate changes, others are skeptics. Yet, one factor that unites all of us is our concern for the economy and, more specifically, government spending.

President Obama's Jobs Plan was sounding pretty good, but you may have noticed some of the conservative students in the crowd begin to shift nervously in their seats when the president began to speak about funding all of his new plans.

As I write this column, the U.S. National Debt Calculator estimates that the U.S. national debt is close to $14.7 trillion. The president was quick to claim that the plan would be paid for, but how? The president said we would have to wait awhile for the specifics, but you can bet that it includes raising taxes. At this point Republicans had stopped shifting nervously and had broken out into a full-fledged sweat.

The bottom line here is that more taxes and more government spending make Republicans uncomfortable. While it seems improbable that we will be able to pay off $14.7 trillion in debt without raising taxes in some fashion, we should not raise taxes while simultaneously increasing government spending.

With that being said, there were several points in the president's speech that many Republicans would likely support. Specifically, I am referring to cutting taxes for small businesses. The government should pursue all means that will encourage the growth of our small business and private sector.

In conclusion, we should all urge both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work diligently with each other to solve this country's economic crisis. It truly is going to take bipartisanship to overcome the difficult challenges our nation will face on the road to economic recovery.