Posted on 01/28/2010 2:40:19 PM PST by TruthHound
While I don’t wish to speak too harshly about President Obama’s state of the union address, we live in challenging times that call for candor. I call them as I see them, and I hope my frank assessment will be taken as an honest effort to move this conversation forward.
Last night, the president spoke of the “credibility gap” between the public’s expectations of their leaders and what those leaders actually deliver. “Credibility gap” is a good way to describe the chasm between rhetoric and reality in the president’s address. The contradictions seemed endless.
He called for Democrats and Republicans to “work through our differences,” but last year he dismissed any notion of bipartisanship when he smugly told Republicans, “I won.”
He talked like a Washington “outsider,” but he runs Washington! He’s had everything any president could ask for – an overwhelming majority in Congress and a fawning press corps that feels tingles every time he speaks. There was nothing preventing him from pursuing “common sense” solutions all along. He didn’t pursue them because they weren’t his priorities, and he spent his speech blaming Republicans for the problems caused by his own policies.
He dared us to “let him know” if we have a better health care plan, but he refused to allow Republicans in on the negotiations or consider any ideas for real free market and patient-centered reforms. We’ve been “letting him know” our ideas for months from the town halls to the tea parties, but he isn’t interested in listening. Instead he keeps making the nonsensical claim that his massive trillion-dollar health care bill won’t increase the deficit.
Americans are suffering from job losses and lower wages, yet the president practically demanded applause when he mentioned tax cuts, as if allowing people to keep more of their own hard-earned money is an act of noblesse oblige. He claims that he cut taxes, but I must have missed that. I see his policies as paving the way for massive tax increases and inflation, which is the “hidden tax” that most hurts the poor and the elderly living on fixed incomes.
He condemned lobbyists, but his White House is filled with former lobbyists, and this has been a banner year for K Street with his stimulus bill, aka the Lobbyist’s Full Employment Act. He talked about a “deficit of trust” and the need to “do our work in the open,” but he chased away the C-SPAN cameras and cut deals with insurance industry lobbyists behind closed doors.
He spoke of doing what’s best for the next generation and not leaving our children with a “mountain of debt,” but under his watch this year, government spending is up by 22%, and his budget will triple our national debt.
He spoke of a spending freeze, but doesn’t he realize that each new program he’s proposing comes with a new price tag? A spending freeze is a nice idea, but it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem. We need a comprehensive examination of the role of government spending. The president’s deficit commission is little more than a bipartisan tax hike committee, lending political cover to raise taxes without seriously addressing the problem of spending.
He condemned bailouts, but he voted for them and then expanded and extended them. He praised the House’s financial reform bill, but where was Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in that bill? He still hasn’t told us when we’ll be getting out of the auto and the mortgage industries. He praised small businesses, but he’s spent the past year as a friend to big corporations and their lobbyists, who always find a way to make government regulations work in their favor at the expense of their mom & pop competitors.
He praised the effectiveness of his stimulus bill, but then he called for another one – this time cleverly renamed a “jobs bill.” The first stimulus was sold to us as a jobs bill that would keep unemployment under 8%. We now have double digit unemployment with no end in sight. Why should we trust this new “jobs bill”?
He talked about “making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development,” but apparently it’s still too tough for his Interior Secretary to move ahead with Virginia’s offshore oil and gas leases. If they’re dragging their feet on leases, how long will it take them to build “safe, clean nuclear power plants”? Meanwhile, he continued to emphasize “green jobs,” which require massive government subsidies for inefficient technologies that can’t survive on their own in the real world of the free market.
He spoke of supporting young girls in Afghanistan who want to go to school and young women in Iran who courageously protest in the streets, but where were his words of encouragement to the young girls of Afghanistan in his West Point speech? And where was his support for the young women of Iran when they were being gunned down in the streets of Tehran?
Despite speaking for an hour, the president only spent 10% of his speech on foreign policy, and he left us with many unanswered questions. Does he still think trying the 9/11 terrorists in New York is a good idea? Does he still think closing Gitmo is a good idea? Does he still believe in Mirandizing terrorists after the Christmas bomber fiasco? Does he believe we’re in a war against terrorists, or does he think this is just a global crime spree? Does he understand that the first priority of our government is to keep our country safe?
In his address last night, the president once again revealed that there’s a fundamental disconnect between what the American people expect from their government, and what he wants to deliver. He’s still proposing failed top-down big government solutions to our problems. Instead of smaller, smarter government, he’s taken a government that was already too big and supersized it.
Real private sector jobs are created when taxes are low, investment is high, and people are free to go about their business without the heavy hand of government. The president thinks innovation comes from government subsidies. Common sense conservatives know innovation comes from unleashing the creative energy of American entrepreneurs.
Everything seems to be “unexpected” to this administration: unexpected job losses; unexpected housing numbers; unexpected political losses in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New Jersey. True leaders lead best when confronted with the unexpected. But instead of leading us, the president lectured us. He lectured Wall Street; he lectured Main Street; he lectured Congress; he even lectured our Supreme Court Justices.
He criticized politicians who “wage a perpetual campaign,” but he gave a campaign speech instead of a state of the union address. The campaign is over, and President Obama now has something that candidate Obama never had: an actual track record in office. We now can see the failed policies behind the flowery words. If Americans feel as cynical as the president suggests, perhaps it’s because the audacity of his recycled rhetoric no longer inspires hope.
Real leadership requires results. Real hope lies in the ingenuity, generosity, and boundless courage of the American people whose voices are still not being heard in Washington.
- Sarah Palin
You are correct...I watched and played back the video looking for the mention...it never happened. What really ticked me off is that Kim was still recovering from surgery and made the trip for "the honor" of being in the room and he didn't say a stinking word.
Seems his style is not to honor but to tear people down whenever possible...including the country.
I didn’t see him say anything to them or about them. He didn’t introduce them and acknowledge their bravery or their role in saving lives at Ft. Hood. It’s not in his nature to be generous or presidential.
I was shocked(Usually Obama does nothing that surprises me anymore but this really surprised me) I mean, he invited them there and didn’t even bother to mention them. They are both HEROES, yet this prick didn’t even bother to give a 10 second shout out to them. Absolutely disgusting
He didn’t introduce them and acknowledge their bravery or their role in saving lives at Ft. Hood. It’s not in his nature to be generous or presidential.
He’s not American, has no love for America, but thank you Independents for putting him in control of America.
f’n barf
Sarah bump
I'm not following you here.
That's the part I disagree about.
I think whatever debt she may have owed was more than erased by the despicable, dishonorable and disgusting way he allowed her to be treated both during and after his campaign. He is guilty by association and by complicit silence.
If anything, after that display of moral cowardice on Mr. McCain's part, it is he who has a debt to repay.
Good comments. Thanks for the ping.
bttt
Whoa. Nailed the sucker, didn’t she? ;)
Yes, Sarah gave him a good smack down.
LOL.
Bump
(right out of the McDonald’s playbook)
Yeah, and it cost us alot more than .99 cents to supersize it!
Excellent ownage of “President Narcissus!!”
Sarah nailed it.
Can you imagine Obama in that pic next to the moose with blood all over it? I would be laughing so hard at his extreme discomfort. He’s such a Arugula Metrosexual wimp.
uh, not a moose by any stretch, that’s a (deceased) caribou
no offense, but I guess you haven’t seen too many moosies in your lifetime
I’ve never seen a caribou in the flesh but I’ve seen loads of moose all over the Rocky Mtn. states, Canada, etc. and they look very different from that fella
Ouuuuuch! This is why Palin will be great in ‘12. The fact is that 0bama and the Demon party have always been vulnerable, but stupid Republicans have been intimidated to call them out on it. Palin is not afraid to take these frauds on and shows she is more than ready to expose the lies these incompetents live and thrive on. That is one hell of a blog and one hell of a woman who will make one hell of a President!
Yes - the camera kept turning to Munley as if even the press were wondering when he would mention her.
I think he can’t stand it when he’s in the presence of a real hero who possesses real courage.
It must be truly unsettling for him when that hero is a woman.
I’ve also been mulling over this strange student loan thing.
So - student’s get a $10,000 tax credit and he called for an “increase” in government grants and loans.
He said payments won’t exceed 10% of income and debt is forgiven after 10 years if you choose “public service”
So - no matter what institution someone chooses - public, extremely expensive private - all you have to do is keep those payments low and bide your time till the 10 yr. mark right?
And don’t go into the private sector! No no - your payments could go on forever and ever! Right?
We see clearly here the reason Palin is so despised by the left, she prattles on, making no sense whatsoever. She can’t find one positive thing to praise in a brilliant speech by the greatest president in American history. She is a log of negativity lying across the path of the messiah.
(Extreme sarcasm alert for the sarcasm impaired)
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