Obama's State of the Union address inspiring, heartening

Obama was elected mostly on a single premise: change. Two years after his election, watching the State of the Union address in the back of Rocky 200, I felt the walls behind me — built when William McKinley was president — tremble with the thunderous applause of Vassar students at the President's affirmation that, "Yes, we know that some [soldiers] are gay."

I couldn't help but feel as though history was charging forward faster than at any other point in my life. Times are changing, possibly faster than Obama himself initially anticipated.

I grew up in Detroit, a city crippled by its past. Detroit invented the assembly line, furnished Americans' driveways with Buicks and Chevys and churned out B-42's for the Allies' fight in Europe. It was the destination for anyone who sought the American dream.

Obama started his speech by hearkening back to the metropolis that my parents grew up in: "Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown… If you worked hard, chances are you'd have a job for life, with a decent paycheck, good benefits, and the occasional promotion. Maybe you'd even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company."

He was quick to remind us: "That world has changed." He was right.

He went on to describe the Detroit that I went home to for winter break, "I've seen [the change] in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts of once busy Main Streets." I thought of my father, who was probably watching and remembering my great grandfather's meat and poultry company. The abandoned building that was once my family's blooming business—Detroit's biggest meat distribution center—now sits abandoned in the eastern section of the city among other empty, unkempt lots.

Detroit couldn't keep up with change. But it seems that Obama is up for the challenge: "Sustaining the American Dream has never been about standing pat. It has required each generation to sacrifice, and struggle, and meet the demands of a new age."

His challenge to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world," is exactly what we need. Ask any Detroiter.

Unlike the leaders of Detroit, Obama has the wisdom of demanding foresight. He warned us, "None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be, or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn't know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution."

When he excitedly, yet prudently, announced, "I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies," I felt an electric pulse rush through me. It was huge news, but it was also exhilarating. He went on, with a bit of attitude, "I don't know if you've noticed, but they're doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday's energy, let's invest in tomorrow's." I watched some (mostly conservative) members of Congress remain seated as others sprung to their feet as they heard of the imminent propulsion forward.

He called for high-speed trains, a new digital age, an updated tax code, a restructuring of government and a new generation of teachers. Maybe it was just my college-aged optimism or the mere image of a youthful President Obama standing tall in front of two crusty old white guys, but when Obama repeated his refrain, "We do big things," I could see the future.

The change that Obama proposed Tuesday was an entirely different breed than his trademark "change" of 2008. It means more than a shift from Republican to Democrat or Bush to Obama. This is the real deal—the kind of far-reaching change that transcends politics and transforms a nation.

This is the stuff that will shape the rest of our lives.