While some Americans may have found Barack Obama's first State of the Union address to be moving, pragmatic and inspirational, I found it completely devoid of substance, belligerent in tone, full of straw men, half-truths or even outright lies and a solid indicator that the US is in for a rough ride, the only solace being that Mr. Obama's ride will be even rougher. It is evident to me that he either didn't get the message sent by the American people or he just isn't interested in heeding it.
In a belligerent stump speech better saved for 2012, Obama chided that we're being "tested to unite", then attacked unnamed pundits, George W. Bush, minority Republicans and even the Supreme Court. He spoke of the "numbing weight of our politics", yet refused to acknowledge his own political attacks.
He said the current anxiety isn't anything new, while ignoring and even attacking the year-long protests by average Americans, ignited due to his economic gluttony.
He repeatedly put up straw men, making statements such as "Time to get serious", as if those opposing his agenda somehow aren't or "Let's clear a few things up", as if we're somehow mistaken about his reckless plans for this country that are killing our jobs, destroying our livelihoods and shredding our Constitution.
He dishonestly called out the entire country for "denying homosexuals the right to serve their country" while ignoring the twin realities that gay people do serve their country and that serving one's country is a PRIVILEDGE, not a right. What he means is openly, and that threatens military order and discipline.
Notwithstanding the few policy bones he threw Republicans that are either too expensive or face too much political opposition, such as his call for a spending freeze (next year), the elimination of capital gains taxes, nuclear power plants and new offshore oil drilling, nearly all of the so-called "proposals" Obama put forth for getting us out of the economic doldrums are liberal pet projects previously passed by the House; Socialist claptrap, such as the so-called Jobs Bill. Another stinkulus that would essentially liquidate student debt, not create jobs.
In his address, Obama chided: "How long should we wait?" "How long should we put our future on hold?", both statements that reveal that he is an ideologue espousing a vision of a country with zero emissions, no war, no nuclear weapons, universal health care and complete equality, not of opportunity as our Founders intended, but of outcome. His obsessive fixation on so-called "green" jobs and his tendency to link global warming, H1N1, health care reform, illegal immigration and every other imaginable problem under the Sun to our ailing economy, and thus a government-crafted solution, exposes his unyielding belief that government can and should regulate anything and everything that ails its citizens.
Contrary to his lecturing on Wednesday, Barack Obama has no clue how budgeting works. To most Americans, it means taking immediate steps to bring your economic situation back in balance. To Barack Obama, it means calculating how much of other people's money you can possibly spend in a year and, because you've already spent everything and plan to spend more, raising your limit (the Federal Debt Ceiling) to legalize your destructive, illegal addiction.
Government creates neither jobs, nor wealth nor prosperity, it merely consumes
Barack Obama has a deep-seated, psychological aversion to true tax cuts. To him, cutting taxes is not lowering tax rates, but sending targeted groups of Americans one-time stinkulus checks or paying them to have more kids.
Government creates neither jobs, nor wealth nor prosperity, it merely consumes. Yet, every single solution put forth by Barack Obama has echoed his unyielding belief that a dollar of government spending will create $1.50 in private sector growth. His blind adherence to failed, progressive ideals inculcates him with the mistaken belief that every societal problem can be solved with government regulation or expenditures. He just doesn't get it.
Barack Obama seems to enjoy being described as "forward looking". He is, after all, a proud Progressive. But, with all of his flowery rhetoric of how fabulous America's future would be, if only we had another tall glass of his Kool-Aid, maybe, just maybe, with his eye so far into the future, he's lost sight of the present - or, more importantly, forgotten the lessons of the past.
The ill-conceived ideology of socialism has failed whenever and wherever it has surfaced, increasing in brutality and leaving millions dead in the process out of sheer necessity. Generations of Americans have died trying to ensure that the tyranny espoused by progressive Democrats would never invade American shores. And, while we still have a way to go in this country before it can honestly be compared to a Soviet-style dictatorship, the broken promises, lack of transparency, institutionalized corruption, back room deals and organized attacks on opponents indicate that we're steaming ahead in that direction, penniless and rudderless.
