Obama's last State of the Union: Just another campaign speech

Commentary by James Shott

President Barack Obama gave his eighth and final State of the Union (SOTU) message last Tuesday night, to a mixed set of reviews. Commentators had noted that a president’s last SOTU generally is predictable and boring. Obama’s final flourish was both predictable in its petulance and arrogance, and boring, because most of it has been said before. And often.

Pledging near the beginning that this one would be short perhaps gave false hope. Going back to Lynden Johnson’s presidency from 1963 to 1969, our presidents’ addresses have averaged right at 50 minutes, and Obama’s speeches have averaged 63 minutes. Only in comparison to Bill Clinton’s average of 75 minutes does this one qualify as short, running just under 59 minutes. At 29 minutes, Richard Nixon’s 1972 address holds the record for the shortest.

Perhaps it is due to his 12-year stint as a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School that the address was an hour-long lecture, one part of which dealt with the tone of current political discourse and contained an uncommon admission of failure. “It's one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” he said. “I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide...” That is no doubt true, as it is a commonly and broadly held opinion that Obama is the most divisive president in recent memory, or perhaps ever, and he has done nothing to calm the raging political waters in seven years.

Complaining that there has been precious little progress in Congress, he noted: “Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise…” But compromise depends upon the details of the issue. Sometimes, compromise is simply not possible if it means one side abandoning fundamental principles. If one party demands the other party sacrifice their right hand, for example, the other party cannot be blamed for refusing to compromise by giving up two or three fingers. This is the nature of the compromise Obama and the Democrats slam Republicans for not indulging in, as they routinely demand things that even acquiescent Republicans cannot accept.

Burnishing his accomplishments, Obama said we have “a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry and booming energy production.” He also said that the U.S. is in the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history. Typically, this is the most non-specific and favorable part of the story, and there is much there deserving of clarification. Many jobs have, indeed, been created and the unemployment rate (U-3) is in good territory, but that is due to millions of Americans having stopped looking for work because they couldn’t find a job in the Obama economy. The Workforce Participation rate is at its lowest point in 35 years.

Wages have stagnated during Obama’s tenure, personal debt has increased by about $1 trillion, and fewer Americans are buying homes. And then there is the national debt, which has increased substantially under Obama. He took office in January of fiscal year 2009, with a national debt of nearly $12 trillion. In fiscal 2015 that figure stood at more than $18 trillion. Fiscal 2016 will end September 30 of this year, and it is likely that by that time the national debt will be $20 trillion.

All the while GDP limps along at rates ranging from a low of minus 2.8 percent in 2009 to 2.4 percent in 2014, never rising above 2.5 percent. GDP finally began approaching respectable levels in 2015, fully six years after Obama took office. Not much to brag about there.

Obama said it is a hallmark of his economy that today more Americans work in the solar industry than in the coal industry. But at what cost? He gave well over a billion dollars of taxpayer money in subsidies to a few solar firms that not long thereafter went bankrupt, and the administration’s harsh and unwarranted attacks on the coal industry put tens of thousands out of work and closed several coal-fired electric generation plants well before natural changes in energy production would have more gradually and less chaotically replaced coal with other methods.

In West Virginia, the loss of income from the Coal Severance Tax and Income Tax collections from out-of-work coal miners and workers in support industries have seriously damaged the state’s economy, and Kentucky and Virginia also have suffered job losses and economic harm, all without a sympathetic tear from the president.

Each year as the State of the Union address grows near there is talk of doing away with it, because it no longer has a valid purpose. “What’s tiresome is the hoopla about a speech that hardly anybody watches, and that, as a general rule, contains nothing new,” stated Yale law professor Stephen Carter. The SOTU originally was intended for the president to report to Congress on the condition of the nation, but also allowed the President to outline his legislative agenda.

Ah, but those were the good old days. More recently it has devolved into a grand political opportunity, as Obama so well demonstrated.


Cross-posted from Observations

What useful purpose does the State of the Union address really serve?

Every January after the new Congressional session has begun, we are treated, or subjected, to a formal statement by the President of the United States in the State of the Union address (SOTU).

It is the only time when all three branches of government gather in a common place, in the House of Representatives chamber, where senators, representatives, Supreme Court justices and cabinet secretaries jointly participate in an event.

Each year, one cabinet secretary is appointed to be at a physically distant, secure, and undisclosed location during the SOTU so that if there was an attack on the Capital during the address killing the president and many of the top officials, someone in the line of succession to the president would survive.

The reason there is a SOTU address is constitutional. Article II, Section 3, Clause 1, states that the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient” in an “Annual Message.”

According to house.gov, through the years the presidential address has gone through a series of changes, both in name and in content. For the first century and a half it was called the “Annual Message,” but in 1947 it became known officially as the State of the Union message/address. Notably, from Thomas Jefferson’s presidency up to Woodrow Wilson’s, the state of the union was a written communication.

In prior incarnations the event “included agency budget requests and general reports on the health of the economy. During the 20th century, Congress required more-specialized reports on these two aspects, separate from the Annual Message.”

Other changes occurred, and with the advent of radio, which first broadcast the SOTU in 1923, then television, which first televised the address in 1965, house.gov tells us that these technologies helped “the State of the Union [evolve] into a forum for the President to speak directly to the American people.”

The new technologies allowed the SOTU to be transformed from a vehicle to inform the Congress of the condition of the nation into something very different. What we have today is a grand spectacle staged for the primary benefit of the person who is the President of the United States and the political party to which he belongs. A theatrical coup of proportions only dreamed of by PR folks that is covered on radio, television and the Internet, the State of the Union Show has devolved into a grandiose occasion for advancing the president’s political ideas; essentially a highly over-promoted campaign speech.

In this forum the president can say whatever he or (someday) she wants to without opposition. There’s no truth-detector, as former President Bill Clinton once complained about talk radio.

After the speech is over, we are treated to the predictable fawning by the president’s fans and carping by his political opponents for days, accompanied by pro and con analysis from pundits, dutifully covered by the national media, ad nauseam.

Now, it is true that since 1966 the opposition party has been given the opportunity to respond, but that is for only several minutes to counter the president’s hour-long speech. This year, the opposition response lasted less than 10 minutes. But if the SOTU message really were a non-political assessment of the state of the union, there would be no need for an opposition response.

The fact that there has been an opposition response for nearly 50 years further underscores the heavily political nature of the address, and the pointlessness of it as a vehicle that imparts important information. It is now merely a political event glorifying the sitting president, who in this setting more resembles a monarch than an elected public servant.

The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano, writing for The Daily Signal, commented on the content of this year’s SOTU address, and defended the event as a still useful feature of our country’s government. “The State of the Union address shows not just Americans, but the entire world, that America is still an exceptional nation—one that believes in the rule ‘by the people for the people.’”

That is one perspective. A different perspective is that the many hours, security costs and other assets that are utilized to stage this once-important event would be better spent on some productive endeavor.

It is impossible to completely remove political components and policy disagreements from the SOTU, as at least some of what a president says will necessarily have political implications and will not be agreeable to the opposition party. However, there seems lately to have been little if any effort to provide a politically neutral analysis of the national status, but instead the presidents have focused on scoring political points against an effectively disarmed opponent.

Since the usefulness of the SOTU in the functioning of our government has been reduced to nearly nothing, should it be done away with? Perhaps it can again become relevant and useful if we return to having the president communicate to Congress through a written message. Or at the very least, stop broadcasting it, and restore decorum to the event.

Government is a poor mechanism for correcting societal problems

Commentary by James Shott

Most Americans think that helping truly needy people, whether they live here or in some other country, is a worthy objective. Looking at charitable contributions as a benchmark, Americans are the most generous people in the world, giving $316.23 billion to charitable organizations in 2012, about 2 percent of GDP, according to Charity Navigator, and preliminary figures for 2013 indicate a significant increase to $328 billion.

Double those numbers and it still would not be good enough for the federal government, which believes that if private sources don’t relieve every semblance of suffering for every single suffering American, the government must step in and do the job better.

Except that government can’t do it better, never has, and never will.

Government’s failure to achieve better results than normal people doing what normal people do has never been a deterrent to wasting billions of taxpayers dollars in a futile effort to try one more time to do so.

The most notorious failure was Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” which began 50 years ago in Mr. Johnson’s State of the Union message. From the beginning of the war on poverty until 2013, local, state, and federal spending on welfare programs totaled $16 trillion, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Currently, the United States spends nearly $1 trillion every year to fight poverty.

When the War on Poverty began, 33 million Americans were in poverty and the poverty rate was 19 percent. Today, approximately 46.5 million live in poverty and the poverty rate is 15 percent. Even though the poverty rate is lower than 50 years ago, because our population is much larger now than then, more people are poor today than in 1964. We have fought a long and expensive fight, and lost. Yet we still fight on.

President Barack Obama’s cause du jour is income inequality, and it’s significant other, the minimum wage. And now that “reforming” the best healthcare system in the world is well underway, he wants to declare war against income inequality.

In no free or relatively free economic system can there be income equality, for two reasons. First, inequality is a fundamental part of life. Some people sing better than others. Some are better athletes than others. And some people make more money than others, and that’s because some people are better at their job than others and deserve higher pay, and some jobs require more skill and training than others, and pay better.

So, like poverty, another area that will always exist, we will always have income inequality.

Far more important, however, is whether there is the opportunity to move up from the lower income levels, and that is an area that has been fairly stable, according to The New York Times, which reported last month that “the odds of moving up — or down — the income ladder in the United States have not changed appreciably in the last 20 years….”

That means that people in the lowest quintile are not condemned to stay there, and people in the top quintile are not guaranteed to stay there, and there is substantial movement in and out of all quintiles.

It’s a favored piece of envy politics that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But the data tell a different story. From 1967 to 2009, the real mean household income increased for every quintile, which means the poor became richer, not poorer. Americans in poverty could afford more goods and services in 2009 than in 1967, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Other factors, like where people live, have an effect. Harvard University’s Raj Chetty reported “the probability that a child reaches the top quintile of the national income distribution starting from a family in the bottom quintile is 4.4 percent in Charlotte but 12.9 percent in San Jose,” and factors such as better primary schools and greater family stability also aid upward mobility, he wrote.

Larry Kaufmann, senior advisor at Pacific Economics Group, discussed findings of the Pew Charitable Trust, which showed that “Half of children born to parents with bottom-third income levels experience upward relative mobility when the parents remain continuously married; the figure falls to 26 percent when this is not the case,” he wrote.

The Pew study shows that the poverty rate among married couples is only 6 percent, and among married couples who both have full-time jobs the poverty rate is practically zero. The poverty rate among single dads and single moms, however, is much higher: 25 percent for single dads and 31percent for single moms.

Investor’s Business Daily Senior Writer John Merline notes that income inequality has increased faster since Mr. Obama took office than under any of the three previous presidents, and that inequality is now greater than at any time since the Census Bureau started recording it back in 1947.

The message from this is that to assist folks in moving up the income ladder, Mr. Obama should replace his administration’s policies that impede economic recovery, and seriously encourage the restoration of family values among Americans. That would accomplish far more than making people think they are victims, and fomenting division among Americans.



Cross-posted from Observations

End of an error? The State of the Union campaign event needs to go

End of an error? The State of the Union campaign event needs to go

The State of the Union address to Congress is really just a routine presidential duty defined in Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1787-88: "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

That simple requirement to update the Congress and recommend certain things the president thinks are important has evolved into the political orgy we now witness each year.

We have become accustomed to the spectacle of last week because that is the way the message has been delivered for a hundred years. However, there is no requirement for the president to actually appear before the Congress and orally deliver the message. And in fact, beginning with Thomas Jefferson's first State of the Union in 1801 and lasting until William Howard Taft's final message in 1912, the State of the Union was a written, often lengthy, report sent to Congress at the beginning of a new Session of Congress.

It’s time to return to the more sensible and less hype-driven process of Jefferson through Taft, because instead of a restrained message addressing the problems the country faces and perhaps some discussion of the successes that it has experienced, for years we’ve been treated to a campaign event all dolled up into a grandiose political revue that is little more than an exercise in political expedience.

It is a stage perfectly set for the delivery of propaganda with no real-time truth detector. The president says whatever he wants to say, and with the possible exception of a sour expression on the face of someone in the audience, or an unacceptable verbal complaint like the one back in 2009, there is no contrary opinion expressed until after the speech when the opposition party responds. By that time, many have tuned out, and given the setting and the pomp, and the fact that people still respect the office enough to often accept a president at his word, the damage is pretty much done.

Remaining true to form, at this year’s address President Barack Obama did not let the opportunity pass without making sure he got his points across, even if they were at odds with reality.

No less a dependable source for advocating liberal positions than The Washington Post identified six of Mr. Obama’s claims that attracted the attention of fact-checkers, presenting them in “a guide through some of President Obama’s more fact-challenged claims.”

In one of them the president noted, “the more than eight million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years.”

Subtracting the jobs created not by businesses, but by government, that number is actually 7.6 million, and that number is correct, as far as the claim goes. The Post says the net new jobs created during the Obama administration is 3.2 million, and that there are 1.2 million fewer jobs today than when the recession began in December 2007.

Further, Newsmax reports that by last April, the number of Americans on food stamps had grown by 16 million since January 2009, which is more than twice as many people as got jobs.

“Our deficits — cut by more than half,” Mr. Obama bragged.

However, according to The Post, ”the federal budget deficit has declined in half since 2009, from $1.3 trillion to about $600 billion, but that’s not much to brag about. The 2009 figure was not just a deficit Obama inherited from his predecessor, since it also reflected the impact of decisions, such as the $800 billion stimulus bill, enacted early in the president’s term.

“Moreover, the deficit soared in the first place because of the recession, so as the economy has improved, the deficit naturally decreased.  The United States still has a deficit higher than it was in nominal terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product than it was in 2008 and a debt much greater as a percentage of the overall economy than it was prior to the recession.”

The only beneficiaries of this sort of event are the president and his fellow party members. Those who take the president at his word – and that certainly includes the millions of Americans who do not investigate what they read and hear – are less well informed than before the address.

One thing the president was accurate about was his intention to continue using Executive Orders to enact measures the Congress won’t pass, or to change them to his liking. Apparently, the former constitutional law lecturer doesn’t remember the full text of the authorizing language for the State of the Union, with emphasis on the phrase “recommend to their Consideration.” It does not say, “tell them the edicts he will issue if the Congress does not act.”

President Obama needs a remedial class in what the Constitution means. The Executive and the Legislative Branches are co-equal, along with the Judicial Branch; the president cannot make law, dictate what laws Congress will pass, or alter laws he does not like.

Why won’t the Congress stand up and defend its Constitutional prerogatives and obligations and make the president behave constitutionally?

The Leopard Will Change His Spots

Book of Obama Chapter 13

And the Holy One, anointed by Holy Chief of Justice, John of Roberts, returned to the Dome of the Capital, dressed in the Holy suit and tie and addressed the assembled chapter of the Congress, the Holy Justices of the land, the members of the anointed Cabinet and guests from near and far, the Anointed One, Wearer of the Mantle of Power, spoke:

I ended the war in Iraq, I killed the evil bin Laden, and personally I welcomed all the soldiers home from Iraq. I am the Holy One, the President and I can do everything.  I have brought peace to the world, the world respects us better now than at any time, I will end the war in Afghanistan too.  For I am the Messiah of the World.

I want all of you, My slaves oops My people to remember what I did for you after World War 2.  My Grandfather who fought with Patton (and liberated Auschwitz) and My Grandmother who built the entire US Navy by herself, got to go to college for nothing.  They built the US to its greatness all by themselves.

But now I see that you have done everything to destroy Me.  You have overspent, you have destroyed My credit (and yours), you have bought homes that you could not afford.  But I am here.  I will pay your mortgages.  I will refinance your mortgages.  I will make it all better.  I am your Savior.

I will prevent jobs from going overseas.  I will investigate businesses who outsource their jobs to China.  (That is until Warren Buffet tells Me to stop.)  There will be no more bailouts for banks, for Wall Street, for anyone, except for Unions.  I saved the auto industry.  No one helped Me.  And they are stronger now than before.  (Sorry about the Volt thing.)  I will make other nations have an equal playing field with Me.  I am the equalizer.

I will tax the rich higher.  And I will tax everyone else higher too.  I will change the tax code.  I am Omnipotent.  I can and will do all.

I salute America's teachers.  I stand by your unions.  I will throw more money to you so you can indoctrinate the children.  I want a law saying that a child must stay in school until either he or she graduates or turns 18.  That way I can have them indoctrinated to be our slaves.  I will find a way to destroy the home schools, the private schools (But not the ones My daughters attend.), and the religious schools.  Everyone will learn the same, think the same, live the same.  Everyone will get free college under Me.  (Except to the "good" schools.)

I will give citizenship to every immigrant to the United States.  It matters not to Me if they are legally here or not.  And I demand that this be done before the November elections (I need the votes.).

I will create jobs in energy.  I will have the oil fields opened up.  (Until the environmentalists either go to court or demand that I stop.)  I demand that we develop alternate energy (The people who created Solyndra have given Me more money.  I need to give them more government funds.)  Under Me the United States has imported less oil than in the last 16 years.  (Not really but if you tell a lie long and loud enough the sheeple will believe it.)

I will clear away all the Red Tape, all the government regulations that hold business down.  But only until I am re-elected.  Then not only will it all return but I will impose stricter restrictions upon the land.

Under My leadership the Muslim world has undergone transformations.  I was the cause of the Arab Spring, the Arab renewal, the Muslim revival.  This is all good in My eye.  I will remove Assad from Syria, nukes from Iran and Jews from Palestine.  I will defeat the evil Netanyahu and replace him with the moderate Abbas.  There will be peace through out the land, for under Me all will drink the Kool-Aid and sing the Kumbaya.  Under Me all men, all women will live in peace.  There will be peace, the peace of Islam and the joy of the jizya.  This I will demand of the world.

Upon listening to this the people turned to each other and wondered why the Anointed One didn't do any of these things when He first came into office.  They saw what He had done and shook their heads.  In a loud voice they shouted:

NOT THIS TIME!

In Humility He Spoke

By Findalis

Book of Obama:  Chapter 12

pon the appointed time the Anointed One, Wearer of the Mantle of Power, returned to the Dome of the Capital. Dressed in the holy suit and tie, bearing upon His lapel the shield of the flag and wearing upon His face the look of contrition, He walked in to addressed the nation.

Upon arrival the assembled chapter of the Congress, the Holy Justices of the land, the members of the anointed Cabinet and guests from near and far, the Anointed One, Wearer of the Mantle of Power, spoke:

et Me first congratulate the members of the 112th Congress, the new Speaker of the House, and We send Our prayers to Our dear friend Gabby Gifford, who's empty chair reminds us of the violence of those who own guns will do.
We have not seen eye to eye these last two years.  While I have tried to steer this nation towards the European Model which is the best one.  The Republicans have tried to thwart Me.  They even were able to convince the people to turn on Me.  I have received their message.  I will enter the center.

We are one nation, one family.  We can work out our differences so long as you follow My plan and My way.  I know best, you do not.

I will not spend our money foolishly anymore, but will INVEST for the future. The future of energy. The future of education. The future of our economy. See we are not spending. We are investing. Though these investments will cost us trillions.

This not about Me, or who will win the next election (I will.), but about how I am going to get you to ignore the past two years and vote for Me in 2012.

I am poised for greatness, but are heading for failure. This is not My fault. It is the fault of our teachers, our scientist, previous Presidents. But not Me.

India and China outshine us. China is better than us in everything. I cannot compete with them. They are better in math and science. They out produce us. They own our nation. I must bow down to them.

I propose that we are having a Sputnik Moment. While the whole world is speeding ahead of us in technology, education, innovation, we lag behind. I do not spend enough on these areas. Therefore I propose that we throw away more money on these ideas. After all that is the only policy I know.

I propose that we cut discretionary spending, but only a little bit.  I want to fool the people, not actually do any cuts except for the Military. There gays can serve openly, I will remove our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan this year, and destroy all of our nukes too.

I must not hold teachers accountable for their actions in the classroom.  I put all the blame on the parents.  Nothing is the teacher's fault, there are no bad teachers, you must never fire a teacher.

I will give every person a free education. It will not teach the basics, they are not necessary. It will teach all the touchy-feely ideas My friend Bill thinks we should teach.

I will give an almost free college education. Not just to our citizens, but to every illegal undocumented immigrant too.

In fact, to every young person listening tonight who’s contemplating their career choice: If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child – become a teacher. You can never be fired.

I will not allow you to destroy the Healthcare Law.  It is My greatest achievements and will be My legacy to the nation.  Now and in the future.

Just as I have done in the White House, I will demand greater transparency for this Congress. It has worked just fine for us. This Congress will have everyone looking down on them. What bills they write. What lobbyists they see. How many earmarks they have. It will be wonderful for the people.

I will double our exports by 2014, as soon as I discover what we export. I will cut government regulation on businesses. And cut the tax rate on business.

I will balance the budget, and cut the defect.
I will restore this economy.
I will bring peace to the world.
I will make the internet faster for all.
I will bring high speed trains to every city.
I am Obama! I can do it all!

You see, I am the center.

And the multitudes listened to the speech, but for once the Anointed One did not stir the multitudes.  The speech fell flat, uninspiring.  The Messiah had lost his voice.

For upon listening to this speech it was like being sweet talked by Tiger Woods.  Neither would be believed by the listener.

State Of The Nation

by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Book of Obama:  Chapter 10

 


e placed The Holy Suit and Tie once again upon His body, and ascended once again to the Dome.  There the assembled chapter of the Congress, the Holy Justices of the land, the members of the anointed Cabinet and guests from near and far sat awaiting His words.  Unlike the year before, He wasn't popular.  Every plan, every idea He had, was rejected by the people.

"We do not want your Cap and Trade, Health Care, or other Moonbat ideas.  Your bowing down to dictators, despots and tyrants around the world does not put us at ease You have apologized to everyone for all the supposed evils that we were suspected of doing.  You are getting ready to destroy our laws, by declaring the Holy Document invalid.  We have heard enough lies from you, your dogs Emanuel, Axelrod, Pelosi and Reid.  We've heard them all and we've learned a couple of things."

The Anointed One just smiled and then addressed the Nation:

short year ago I took office, but that is just a breeze in time.  Look back upon our Founding Fathers, our struggles during the Civil War, the Depression.  We did not flounder or despair.  Nor did we despair through out the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement.  And I will not despair now.

For I inherited a bad economy that was shaken to its core.  I opposed all of the bailouts done, for I saw the harm they will do.  My stimulus plan has created jobs in teaching, rescue, construction and other sectors.

We need Health Care now!  I demand Congress to pass.  Cap and Trade too.  Forget about the Holy Document.  There is too much to do.

I am a man of the people, representative of the Middle Class, My values are the same as yours.  I love this country so much I would never bad name it.  But we did wrong with the Muslim world, and other places too.  I said to them I am sorry, there is nothing you can do.

I said I would create jobs, and that I will do.  For every man and woman.  New industries, new factories, Red, White, Blue, and Green.  We must compete with China, Korea, and Germany too.  This we must excel in if we are going to continually survive.

I will eliminate the nukes of the world, starting with our own.  For did not the Great Reagan of old try to achieve this very goal.

People through out the land write to Me with their problems.  A businessman in Denver*, or in Philadelphia, a teacher in the city, the cop on the beat, a child who wants to know why Mommy and Daddy lost their jobs, another who just lost his home.  I read all their letters, I know all their problems, and I will solve them all.

I could go on all night, but that will do no good at all.  I promised you Hope and Change, and did not lie to you on that, for I am not President #43.

And after The Anointed One had finished His speech, His  followers were full of glee.  For they just knew that once again He had saved the day.

But from right across the river, from the city of Richmond in the land of Virginia, came a new prophet from the right.  Bob The Wise McDonnell.

The Prophet spoke of those with a job, how 1 in 10 lost theirs.
He spoke of the despair the nation felt, of how the economy  was gone.
He spoke of the need for smaller government, how The Anointed One did spend.
He said that the time for spending cuts and freezes were last year, not when your polling number has shown you have failed.

The Prophet McDonnell told the people that it isn't too late.
That the time has come to sit and wait,
So The Anointed One could not shove His agenda down our throats.

He told the assembled people and media the truth.
And our solutions aren't 1,000-page bills that no one has fully read,
After being crafted behind closed doors with special interests.
In fact, many of our proposals are available online at solutions.gop.gov, and we welcome your ideas on Facebook and Twitter.

He told them this and more.

 And through it all, the world went on, the nation will endure.

The GOP got Teddy's seat, they can get more they will.
For the people have seen the truth, heard the lies and broken promises.
Unlike those on the left, the right will not just yell.
They are the ones, in Midterm years, come out in droves to vote.

Reid, Frank and Boxer, plus many more are running scared tonight.
For the GOP has the will, the drive and the clout,
To drive the Moonbats back into the dark.

We just have to wait for November to do it!


*  The President mentioned many people in his speech, but none by name, nor did he recognize any of them in the balcony (he only recognized his wife).  Could it be they are all named:  Ellie Light?

Obama: “I’m from the government, and I am here to help you!”

Obama: “I’m from the government, and I am here to help you!”
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

**********

The Obama Regime has set it sites on America’s Middle Class. And it has scared the bejesus out of them! You can almost hear the cries emanating from the Middle Class… “Please, Mr. President, STOP helping us!!!”

But that is not going to happen until Americans isolate Obama in the White House by ousting his congressional supporters in the Mid-Term Election this coming November.

The so-called Middle Class Task Force,, made up of White House flunkies and chaired by Vice-President Joe Biden have been searching diligently in the round about to find issues, any issues, the American Middle Class has been wrestling with and then promise to help solve those issues.

I have to ask: how connected to the American public IS the President when he has to appoint a task force to learn the current condition of the Middle Class in America?

Nevertheless, that is what Obama did -- and NOW he KNOWS what the Middle Class is dealing with and he, Obama, “The One,” is going to solve those problems, just as he has solved America’s economic woes and just as he has solved America’s unemployment problem, and just as he has solved… well, you get the picture.

See, Obama apparently believes that all he has to do is PROMISE to solve all those things, not ACTUALLY solve them. Why, who could expect him to do THAT?

So after all the data on the problems faced by the Middle Class in America was in, Obama chose a handful of problems to solve. What are they? Here they are, listed below:

Expansion of the child tax credit -- doubling it among families with incomes up to $85,000;

Increasing funding for child care;

Broader support for families supporting elderly relatives, including counseling, training and temporary respite care;

Limiting student loan payments to no more than 10% of their income; and

Establishing an automatic employer-based individual retirement account plan, so that workers can establish an IRA through their workplace.

So – how much is this going to cost taxpayers, huh? Nobody in th Obama Regime will say. In any event, guess who will pay. Remember the Middle Class? Yep! See, there is NO FREE LUNCH!

I looked carefully at the list and there is nothing on it that affects me, as a member of the Middle Class, at all. It would appear that only those members of the Middle Class, who are potential supporters of Obama, and the other Socialists in the Congress, would reap any benefit from Obama’s Middle Class Iniatives. What I DO see, however, is in keeping with Obama’s Marxist belief and that is -- the Redistribution of America’s Wealth.

Never forget that our President is a Marxist… some even claim he is a communist. There is no question in our mind that he IS a Marxist andTHIS is what Marxists do. They take from those who have it and give it to those who do not. No matter that those who have it worked for it and earned it and have a God-given right to the fruits of their labor. Either they fork it over willingly, or the Marxist government will take it and redistribute it. That is the underlying reason for the Middle Class Iniatives.

Oh, and we must not forget that all theses problems suffered by the Middle Class are the fault of the Bush Administration. Obama is as pure as the wind driven snow.

The “Blame Bush” excuse is wearing rather thin, now isn’t it? Even the Mainstream Media is getting a bit leery of running his “Blame It On Bush” mantra. I mean, Obama has been President for over a year now. At what point in his presidency does he take responsibility? Or does Obama, as many in his generation of Americans, subscribe to the philosophy of “no ownership of screw-ups?” At some point he must accept ownership of the rotten economy, the incredible debt he piled on us, or kids, or grandkids, and our great grandkids, as well as the abysmal unemployment situation in America.

The State of the Union is precarious at best. But you won’t hear that tonight. All you will hear are glowing reports of the accomplishments of the Obama Regime and the lofty aspirations of the Marxists who make up that Regime.

I won’t be listening tonight. I’ll probably be watching the “SyFy channel” where the stories are much more believable.

J. D. Longstreet

Liar Liar II: The State of the Union

by Max Reede

Editor’s Note:

Remember the 1997 film, “Liar Liar,” starring Jim Carrey? Jim Carrey plays a scum-bag, career-focused, narcissistic lawyer and divorced father, Fletcher Reede, who has a habit of breaking promises to his young son, Max, and lying to just about everyone. When Fletcher misses his son’s birthday party, Max makes a wish that his father couldn't tell a lie for an entire day, and the wish immediately comes true.

Now Max has grown up and lives surrounded by true believers. What if he could get his wish for a day one just more time?

A frustrated American sent out this e-mail and asked if I would publish it anonymously. I decided to give him the fitting pseudonym, Max Reede.

The State of the Union ...(wait teleprompter is slow)

Economy: Is GREAT! We haven’t let a single CRISIS go to waste at all. We are having a ball now having spent on ONE sector, my dear friends in banking, the entire GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT FOR ONE ENTIRE YEAR OF ALL AMERICANS. And so far, what we have to show for it...some great campaign contributions for me and my friends and Americans MAD at rich people. From there, I bought an auto industry, an insurance company, I'm working on drug companies and health care now as we speak with spending approaching another 2 - 3 trillion or more dollars (at least that is the start, it is hard to measure these things and I don’t want anyone getting any ideas). Oh, hold on can’t forget my energy bill. My good friend Al Gore, well, can’t let a good news item like shrinking ice sheets go to waste. So now I get to dictate terms to big OIL. My new FDA chief is so busy denying drugs and talking about all of these OTHER studies, I am about to have big Pharma in my pocket too. With Stimulus money I control the states, and even the construction companies in those states by making them conform to FEDERAL guidelines.

As for the strength of our union, I have managed to weaken it to a new breaking point. I have pitted race against race, I have hope pitted against fear, and I have managed to blame the entire thing on George Bush even to the point we might get criminal charges against someone who DOESN'T agree with me because I don’t like that Dick Cheney or Bush (John Tyler and Andrew Jackson, were thinking about coming after you again too). I have managed to express my views as a racist, my belief that America is a bad name in foreign countries and therefore we must subjugate ourselves to other countries, and even go overseas and talk about being Muslim. I am more than willing to pass mindless treaties, bow to some foreign leaders, and even insult my allies. I have the Hispanics in an uproar because I am picking controversial completely liberal MINORITIES, in my best political bet that if you do not vote for them, then you must be a racist. And even if you dodged that bullet (oh, I'm working on collecting those too), I then have Hispanics telling politicians, “There will be repercussions.” All this racism and NO ONE can say anything!!! Yea me! Oh, and we won’t apologize for slavery until we make it so that minorities can sue the government. If we attempt to put in any other language, my dear friends at the Black Caucus just won’t accept the bill. An apology isn't good enough, the tax payers MUST pay.

As for everything else going on, we are busy working on getting rid of those pesky old people, unless they are illegal or poor. Then it is OK, and we’ll treat them. We will decide who gets care, when they get it, and well blame Bush and the Republicans for getting us into this mess to begin with (Churchill was mostly right, if you are not a conservative by 40 then you are stupid). We know where they vote, time to thin the ranks.

Overall, I get great press and I look good. I get to blame Bush for everything, and while the media is in love with me, I basically can shove a 1000 page bill down the nation’s throat and tell them that without it, the sky will fall. Best part, THEY believe me! Except that pesky Fox news and I am working on that one. No more of this freedom of speech thing. Time to get rid of those folks that disagree, so instead of any debate where logic can rule, there will only be me. Free speech will only be allowed when it supports me. My campaign supporters will see to that, just like my friend Mel Simon. He will keep those people out of his 336 malls for me. As long as mine is the only nationwide message, we will be fine since my new friends at the media love to listen to me and do not ask any real questions that Rham didn’t approve. My friends at the FCC are working on that part. Once mine is the only message, where will they get news??? Yea me! And the BEST part, my FCC chair is doing this in the name of competition… Oh that tickles me to no end.

Guns... oh yea. We’ll get bullets first, then the usual suspects, assault rifles etc., and just like everything else, rather than look at what the facts say... we’ll trot out little Johnny who was the VICTIM of gun violence.(just like the health care, energy and all other reforms I am doing). I’ll make it an emotional issue, talk about how CRITICAL it is, pull your heart strings and then BAM, jam this baby home, quick before someone sees any facts or how incredibly stupid my solution is. Like the fact that the criminals have already said they do not get their guns at gun shows…that if we don’t have them, it won’t stop them…or the history of countries with gun control.

Oh yea, TAX the middle class too.... not just the rich.

I have decided that we no longer really need three branches of government. Rather, my 49+ Czars in conjunction with my friends in AmeriCorps and ACORN are going to run things. This checks and balances part, well that just won’t work for me. Rather, I need people that report only to me, are not vetted at all, no silly little congressional hearings or approvals, just me and my good friends. Heck, even Dick didn’t figure this one out! My Czars don’t even have to appear in Congress to testify. Since many of my cabinet members keep forgetting to pay taxes, and cause other kinds of problems, this is much better. Take my Science Czar for example; he’s such a great guy. He believes in "involuntary fertility control" and that newborn babies aren’t even really human beings yet. I never had to answer ONE question about who he was, and why he was in some position of power in my government. He reports directly to me and if I don’t like him... well I get rid of him. Besides, how else can I reward my dearest friends?

One more thing, to ensure that NO ONE can undo what I have wrought (not that I think that I am God, but perhaps the next prophet after Mohammad), I am going to re work the census and hand off some of the biggest deficits to ANYONE who comes after me. I might even get another shot at being President... it is two terms in a row isn't it? Besides, if they can’t prove I am even a citizen, what’s in a pesky interpretation? I can just skip a year, maybe let Hillary step into the mess I created and then I can come back and fix it again! What fun times rigging elections with my friends at ACORN.

So, I see the State of the Union as just about perfect, with only a few more steps... And then it will become MY America. One of racial division, one of class division, and after we are done all of the comrades will be happy in my Utopia (that I have wrought) where myself and the other elite intellectuals will tell you from on high (my new home will be called Olympus) what you can do, what you will do, what you should do, and WE WILL hand out punishments.

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