It is no secret that President Barack Obama possesses an impressive speaking ability unseen by our country since the likes of John F. Kennedy. But this prowess comes with a catch — the president may gloss over important issues using broad promises, few details and positive spins on dire situations.

In his latest State of the Union address, Obama emphasized his own agenda, understating some of the issues facing the nation. While many of his goals are needed, there was a lack of clarity and specifics on immediate initiatives.

In particular, Obama only briefly addressed the Iraq War’s progress, a hot button issue many Americans are eager to learn about. With rising issues like the poor state of the economy, media coverage of this has dwindled. Overall, many viewed the president’s address as an opportunity to hear a concise plan of action for the war’s future.

Unfortunately, an insignificant amount of time was devoted to the war, with Obama’s main message essentially reiterating his promise to end it and continue to reduce the amount of troops stationed overseas.

In terms of the War in Afghanistan’s future, Obama placed its destiny on the Afghan government, stating, “There will be tough fighting ahead, and the Afghan government will need to deliver better governance.”

Broad statements such as these minimize large, complex issues into minute sound bytes easy enough for Americans to absorb with little thought. These fluffy statements leave the nation with large promises and little details regarding how it’s getting done.

A topic Obama was more than ready to address was his plans for America’s future in green energy. With the amount of oil declining and pollution rising, it makes sense to follow the green trend, creating a foundation for the future and an example for neighboring countries.

However, Obama may be setting the bar too high and simultaneously putting his priorities in the wrong place.

For example, Obama promises that by 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources. In addition, he wants one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

Basically, America is starting from square one in the race for green energy and technology. Other countries are far ahead, which is probably why Obama’s expectations are so high. The president’s strong commitment to a cleaner future for the nation is admirable. But realistic, small steps represent the road to take, especially with our nation’s feeble economy.

Obama also addressed the nation’s budget deficit, promising widespread cuts and changes.

He proposes freezing annual domestic spending for the next five years, which would reduce the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade. Surprisingly, even military officials voluntarily proposed cutting tens of billions of dollars in defense spending.

Certainly, budget cuts are an essential part of decreasing the deficit. However, Obama also promised investments. These investments seem to be areas from which Obama is unwilling to cut funding from, such as innovation, education and infrastructure.

While some areas of the government are seeing reduced funding in an effort to curb the deficit, these three areas will receive extra funding over the next few years in an effort to launch Obama’s plans for the future.

Dumping money into these three areas may not seem like the fastest way to stimulate the economy. Certainly, in the distant future, if the economy remains stable, these areas will get America back on its feet, but it will take a considerable amount of time as well as a considerable amount of taxpayers’ money.

The lofty goals are admirable, but unrealistic at this point. Obama needs to focus on reasonable and achievable short-term efforts to move America back on track as soon as possible.