Wassup Family? 2012 is moving right along. I watched the US Presidential State of the Union Address earlier this week.The President was awesome, dynamic, articulate, convincing, sincere, genuine, honest, real. The Republican Response was interestingly typical of an opposition; laced with blame, criticism and complaints. But what does this mean for Bermuda and why did I bring it up? Well, we can learn from America. They are trying to grow their economy and are facing some of the very same challenges that we must address. If they find solutions, we should try them. More on this after the top 20.Holding at #1 is ‘We Found Love' by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris. DJLT is rolling in the deep in South Florida for a fortnight (thank God for vacations) and this track is played at least once an hour during waking hours, on no less than five radio stations. Didn't get to personally hit the nightspots but word on the street is that it features just as prominently in the clubs as well. I do know that it rocks on the rock.Immovable at #2 is ‘Sexy And I Know It' by LMFAO, the dudes who create the most fun in the pop industry these days.Improving to #3 is ‘Without You' by David Guetta featuring Usher. This guy David Guetta is a superstar DJ/Remixer/Producer extraordinaire. Literally all of his songs are hits and the videos are quite fun and creative. Advancing to #4 is ‘Rain Over Me', by Marc Anthony and Pitbull.Falling to #5 is ‘Mr Saxobeat' by Alexandra Stan. This track still rocks. Improving to #6 is ‘Good Feeliing' by Flo Rida, which is essentially the same song as ‘Levels' by Avicii, which is the instrumental version, but equally popular. Slipping to #7 is ‘Moves like Jagger' by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera, one of the current hot tunes that are making people dance in clubs.Up at #8 is ‘The One That Got Away ‘by Katy Perry, a former essential new tune. Falling to #9 is ‘Love On Top' by Beyonce. Beyonce is in a great space at the moment. Hot tracks, a new baby, a cool and equally famous hubby; she is living the dream.Improving to #10 is a rare hip hop/rap love song, ‘Lotus Flower Bomb' by Wale featuring Miguel. Down one space to #11 is ‘Countdown' by Beyonce. Tumbling to #12 is ‘She Will' by Lil Wayne featuring Drake.Soaring to #13 is a former essential new tune, ‘Party People (Ignite The World)' by Erika Jayne. A dude last week, in a comment, dissed her as horrible entertainment. We are all entitled to our opinions, but this does work for some. Soaring to #14 is ‘Ni**as in Paris' by Jay Z featuring Kanye West. This song is catchy and has a slow deliberate beat. Falling to #15 is ‘Party' by Beyonce featuring Andre 3000.Slipping to #16 is ‘Put Your Hands Up (If you…)' by Kylie Minogue. Down to #17 is ‘Party Rock Anthem' by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock.Improving to #18 its ‘Hangover' by Taio Cruz featuring Florida. Slipping to #19 is ‘Pumped Up Kicks' by Foster the People. Tumbling to #20 is ‘Rolling In The Deep' by Adele.Now back to this week's topic learning from the Americans. Don't get it twisted; I'm in no way suggesting that America is all great, wonderful and perfect!However, say what you like, but it is still the greatest country in the world. We can debate or argue that another day; but for now just hear me out.President Obama brought his A game this week in his State of the Union address. He outlined many things.Interestingly, I think he is in trouble because many Americans simply do not see that his main problem is that Washington is broken. He hasn't been able to accomplish as much as he wanted or intended to accomplish.But his biggest problem is that he cannot get his congressional colleagues to agree on anything, produce bills for him to sign; he cannot get consensus because of crooked politicians with insider trading and twisted and sinister agendas which are not in the best interest of the majority of Americans. I thought the Republican response was somewhat obvious. The Governor is supposed to be one of the bright sparks in the Republican Camp with experience in the Office of Budget and Management.Have to give him his props; he seems to know his stuff. However, he lacks personality; seemed to have about as much of that as a pencil eraser and his rebuttal focused on what Obama has not accomplished rather than why he hasn't accomplished it.He hasn't accomplished it because too many Republicans, and some of his own Democratic colleagues, with personal agendas rather than the interest of the majority of Americans, refuse to support initiatives that seek to better the country. You have to give President Obama credit for bringing home the troops.The lesson I've learned through much of this is that the Republicans took eight years to create a situation, more of which came to fruition during the first two years after they were no longer the Government.Is it realistic to expect President Obama to fix it in 3?Mr Obama now knows that he is up against a difficult enemy; Washington and its crooked politicians with their links to certain corporations and the fact that many politicians are not in it for the right reasons but are in it for personal gain.He is also up against a system that prevents the President from accomplishing anything without the consensus of people who really don't want him to succeed.Granted the system has been broken for a while, but the crisis that America finds itself in has caused this to be an even bigger issue, because when the President and right thinking Americans want to get things done, they realise that they are at the mercy of their ability to get consensus for programmes and initiatives to be passed as bills into law. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how Governments work. Its not about all the politics, fancy dress, dynamic speeches, pomp and circumstance. Its about the ability of the elected Government of the day to implement initiatives that will improve things, make the country in question a better place, enhance the present and future of the very people it represents.So America is trying to grow its economy, as is Bermuda. The President is trying to encourage businesses to create more jobs. He is trying to bring back to America jobs that have been outsourced. He is making the military leaner but meaner. He wants to sift out the bad teachers and empower the good ones, as well as paying them a decent salary. He wants legislation to prevent insider trading by politicians and force them to declare their interests in business or conflicts of interest. He also wants to prevent politicians from owning stock in companies in industries they represent.President Obama pushed for both parties to work together for the common good of America as opposed to party politics. These are issues that we in Bermuda face as well.The Pres rightly pointed out that long before the recession jobs started being outsourced. Same has happened in Bermuda and it grew worse during the recession. Now here's the clincher. The President feels that the rich must pay more in taxes than the poor. I agree with this. Its not a punishment of persons who are successful. Its an acknowledgment that Warren Buffett should not pay less in taxes than his secretary. How can you not agree with that logic? He proposed that families making under $250k per year should not have an increase in taxes. We should do something like that in Bda. You have to give the poor and struggling families some relief and some hope. We fail to do this to our peril.At the end of the day, the President of the United States of America is pushing for a smarter and more efficient Government. I'm sure that most right thinking people also want this in Bermuda. If he can get America there; let's look at his blueprint and use whatever we can use here. In closing, I quote the end of his address, wherein he said: “As long as we are joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, and our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong”.This has to apply to Bermuda also. Peace … … DJLT