Re:Obama to beef up laws on privacy and data breaches
by snowwrestler on Monday January 12, 2015 @05:01PM
(#8876712)
The truth is probably somewhere in between. Obama can't be maneuvering for re-election, of course, but can try to set things up for the 2016 elections.
But good legislation does not just magically appear in Congress. Many government programs got a big boost from the President "calling for them"--national parks, for example, or the moon landings. These were not new ideas when Roosevelt or Kennedy spoke about them, but speaking about them helped generate the public momentum for Congress to act.
The U.S. was the first nation in the world to provide free, publicly funded education through high school. It was implemented locally, but it was an idea that was discussed and promoted nationally. The idea of free education is a powerful one in the U.S. culture.
And many community colleges are already heavily funded by state and local governments; making them totally free might not be as big a step as it seems on paper.
But good legislation does not just magically appear in Congress. Many government programs got a big boost from the President "calling for them"--national parks, for example, or the moon landings. These were not new ideas when Roosevelt or Kennedy spoke about them, but speaking about them helped generate the public momentum for Congress to act.
The U.S. was the first nation in the world to provide free, publicly funded education through high school. It was implemented locally, but it was an idea that was discussed and promoted nationally. The idea of free education is a powerful one in the U.S. culture.
And many community colleges are already heavily funded by state and local governments; making them totally free might not be as big a step as it seems on paper.