Letter to the Editor: Sputnik? Really?

A generation spans 25 years. During his State of the Union speech, President Obama invoked the spector of the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in October, 1957 to inspire current day renewal in America's innovative spirit and creativity to help the country maintain its supremacy as a world economic force. 

If the president's intent was to get Americans up off the couch with a call to "arms" invoking something that happened two generations ago, it seems hardly the vehicle to rally the masses since it's a fair assumption that over half the population of this country wouldn't know Sputnik from rotary dial telephone. 

The president himself wasn't even born yet when Sputnik was launched.  I daresay that had you queried 100 Americans from all walks of life about Sputnik the answers would've qualified for Jay Leno's Tonight Show comedy bit, "Jay-walking."

Has the president not noticed the revolution in communication and information retrieval that American companies like Apple have introduced at breakneck speeds. No sooner has one awe inspiring technological advancement been introduced than it's made obsolete by the next advancement in six months. 

Dredging up something that happened 54 years ago as a cause celebre when something as recent as last year's iPad introduction was available and understandable to the vast majority of Americans is just plain...weird.  How is one suppose to make the leap from 54 years ago to understanding the next big breakthrough is "green jobs."  Really?  Might not the president take a lesson closer to his own generational experience and learn that America, when unfrettered by government is completely capable of innovating and creating not only the next generation of ideas but next month's too.  

Steve Sarich, Grayslake