Two recent public addresses by the leader of our state and the leader of our nation should be looked at like reports from an employee who has been given a job to perform.

Essentially that is what citizens got from Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in his State of the State address Tuesday and President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address Wednesday.

Both these men were elected to represent us and lead our state and nation, respectively, to new heights of prosperity.

But, for that dynamic truly to work, the citizens — and ultimately the voters — must take advantage of these proverbial progress reports and stay in tune with what these two men are doing.

Will some of it be rhetoric and political spin? Of course. But, for the most part, both men talked about what they view as recent successes and also plotted an outline for the future.

Gov. Strickland talked about, among other things, a $40 million investment in green energy technologies, called for creating a business lending gateway and said we must make it easier to do business in Ohio.

President Obama focused on education, job creation, the budget deficits and more stimulus efforts.

Do you agree with them? Do you believe everything they said? Would you like to see the state or the nation go a different direction?

Either way, the only place to provide those answers is at the polls.

Our democracy only works if it is a government “for the people, by the people” and we need those same “people” to be educated about events that are affecting our state, our nation and our entire world.

Our governor and our president both work for us. They gave their reports. Now is the time that we give each their performance reviews.

The best place to do that is at the polls.