One aspect of the speeches that is an important issue is education. Neither candidate really spent enough time discussing this issue. They both saw that this was the starting point for creating a better America. Bush made a great point in his speech in saying that we need, "a quality teacher in every classroom." I do not feel like Governor Locke is of the same ideals on this issue. In his speech, he makes the statement that, "we need more than kind words about education from Washington, DC." This does is not a valid point from Locke. Washington is a reflection of not only the President but also the Governor, and we have one of the lowest pay scales for teachers in the United States. In my opinion, getting quality teachers and creating a more one on one teaching style will improve the education of our society. This has to be accomplished by recruiting more teachers and making this profession more appealing. Both the Governor and the President know this, but who is going to step up to the plate.
Another issue is the issue of conservation and environmental protection. President Bush tried to skirt around the issue by talking about the need for more jobs and the dependence we have on foreign oil. What I felt he was trying to do here, was raise support for opening up the Alaskan Wilderness for drilling. Locke saw this also and discusses it in his speech. He feels, instead of opening up the wilderness to oil; Americans should concentrate on using our technology to become less dependant on oil. Oil is not reusable and only destroys the environment with oil spills that kill many wildlife and the burning toxins that pollute our air. America needs to embrace the technology we have and preserve the frontiers that are still left. .
President Bush has created a budget plan that is upside down. He feels that the way to get our economy back to normal is to fight the war first and look to our homeland last.
