Yuba-Sutter Republican rebuttal to Obama: ‘Not much has improved'

The president called for raising taxes on the rich, luring high-tech manufacturers to America and setting up training programs to prepare workers to succeed in those high-tech manufacturing jobs. After he finished, local Democrats hailed the speech a success; local Republicans criticized him. "He failed to really touch on the major issues and crises that are touching the country today," said Rick Reiss, member of the Yuba County Republican Central Committee. The United States needs to bolster its economy, cut government spending, pay down the national debt and drill for its own oil, Reiss said, and Obama's not doing those fast enough. Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico, attended the speech in Washington and wasn't impressed either. "It seemed like a lot of old ideas we've heard before from the president," Herger said. Those ideas haven't turned the nation's economy around, he added. The United States still has high unemployment while the federal government continues to spend more money than it takes in. "We've had three years of the president's policies and we haven't seen the economy improve." Not according to Obama. Businesses created more than 3 million jobs in the last 22 months, he said and last year they created the most jobs since 2005. "The state of our union is getting stronger," Obama told Congress. On the other side of the aisle, there were starkly different opinions of the address. "The president hit the issues squarely and very, very strongly," said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, who is running in a newly remade district this year that will include the Yuba-Sutter area. Obama's priorities are particularly relevant for the Yuba-Sutter area, Garamendi said. The president wants to continue investing in the military, beef up infrastructure like flood protection and increase funding for taking care of veterans once they return from war. "The president laid out solutions today that I think are very achievable if we work together," Garamendi said. Paine agreed, saying the Yuba-Sutter needs better roads and bridges, although he doesn't think Congress working together is a big if during an election year. "The Republicans don't want to have anything done that might reflect in a positive way on Obama," Paine said. "I don't think Congress will do much in this year."