It is hard to believe a President that says "...I am not interested in re-litigating the past" after he just spent 60 minutes of his First State of the Union Address re-litigating the past and blaming Bush for his problems.
It is hard to take a President seriously when he speaks 116 words describing how he wants to get rid of nuclear weapons but only 38 words uttered on the biggest violator of those principles: Iran. It is hard to understand why Obama and his Administration have wasted this past year by not increasing the sanctions on Iran and building on the Bush Administration's 3 UN resolutions sanctioning Iran for their continued illegal uranium enrichment.
It's hard to take a President seriously when he says we will take the fight to al Qaeda but then brings al Qaeda to the U.S. to be tried in an American court. It's hard to understand a President who sends the lawyers to a terrorist to tell him that he has the right to remain silent but then brags that he is tough on terrorists.
And if you thought Obama had learned a lesson from the recent Scott Brown election in Massachusetts, think again. From the moment he started his address to the Nation, Obama made it perfectly clear that all of his problems were Bush's fault.
"One year ago I took office in the midst of 2 wars, a bad economy..." blah, blah, blah. "One year later the worst of the storm has passed but the devastation remains....," Obama said in the first minutes of his speech. The problem with the President's continued excuse is that since he has taken office unemployment has surged, the deficit has skyrocketed and Washington's spending has gotten even more out of control. But to hear the President speak, his reckless spending has had nothing to do with our financial problems or highest unemployment rates in decades. But time has run out on Obama's excuses. The American people are fed up and the President's poll numbers are in the tank. The Democrats have had an overwhelming majority in the House and Senate and yet, Obama's first year has been one of the worst first year's for any President in history. For all of Obama's big talk about change, very little has been done despite the fact that his Party controls all of Washington and has the ability to make change immediately. It doesn't make sense for the President to blame Republicans for his first year failures. He has only his majority party to blame.
If you thought Obama was ready to stop spending billions of dollars we don't have, think again. Tonight, Obama went on a spending spree that would make Nancy Pelosi happy. The President's new #1 focus is now on creating jobs, he says. It's no longer health care. More than 42 minutes into his speech not a word had been uttered about health care. But there was plenty said on how to spend your tax dollars even though we are already behind on paying our bills. There was $30 billion for community banks to give to small businesses, billions for infrastructure projects to put unions to work, millions for clean energy businesses, millions for community colleges, millions for more pell grants, millions for child care credits, billions for new home owners, millions for farmers and veterans and the list continues. While a case can be made for helping each and every one of these groups, there has been no regard for who will pay for these new programs or whether now is the time to spend this money.
As Obama's speech continued, there was more blaming Bush for the problems and more spending from his Administration. But what was most shocking to watch was President Obama double down on partisanship. Obama wasn't humble or conciliatory, he was antagonistic and cocky. But for a President who promised change and has the votes in Congress to deliver it, it was a disappointing night. It was more of the same from Washington.
And then an hour into his speech the President suddenly changed his tone. It was like he suddenly remembered that the state of Massachusetts just voted for a Republican to fill Ted Kennedy's seat. President Obama became the out-reacher-in-chief. If Obama had delivered the last 20 minutes of his speech first, and cut out the political jabs from the first 60 minutes of the speech then he would have been better received.
In the end, Obama speech reminded us that he isn't leading his party or the nation. For a President starting his term with a massive majority in Congress and sky-high approval ratings, he has squandered a ton of political capital with nothing to show for it.
Stuart Whatley: Obama's State of the Union Falls Short on Correcting Citizens United Debacle
If the legislative efforts in Washington last year reveal anything, it's that politics and policymaking are corrupted overwhelmingly by perverse electoral incentives. Obama's goals depend on his leadership in fixing this.
Huff TV: Arianna: Obama Did Not Make Middle Class The Priority In State Of The Union Speech
President Obama did not make middle class Americans the centerpiece of his State of the Union speech, according to Arianna. She weighed in on the...
Would you hire someone to tutor your child in math when their philosophy is tutoring doesn't work?
1. President Bush came in with a surplus and left with a huge deficit.
2. Bush prosecuted two wars (one through deception), and both without asking our country to sacrifice--usually wars have to be paid for by increased taxes.
3. 9/11 happened on Bush's watch!
4. The Bank rescue plan came out of the Bush Administration.
I could go on and on. Please, stop trying to change history and please quit the exaggeration--Obama did not spend 60 minutes blaming others.
"Why Obama Will Lose Today..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-grenell/why-obama-will-lose-today_b_140948.html
One other point. What is it with all you chickenhawks and your fear of bringing our enemies to justice on American soil? It's land of the free, home of the BRAVE. You've clearly stepped hard on the first clause over the past eight years, but really, your total lack of courage is pathetic.
he didn't bother to include two wars in his budget. Maybe President
Obama hasn't lived up to hype, but he came into a mess left by
the previous administration, not one he caused, at least not
yet. Oh, forgot , President Bush began the first bailout
of Wall Street, he kept taxes low for the wealthiest not the middle
class, and the bank crisis began before President Obama took
over.
"this darn president, he says he'll be fair, but he does nothing to change the fact that he's black"
Too bad they can't blame the end of the Clinton surpluses into deficits on the Dems because the GOP controlled Congress for Bush's entire first term and half of his second ( minus the one year when the Vermont Senator left the GOP, making the Senate a tie).
All the have to do is look how the GOP governed when they had the WH and Congress to see how they will govern in the future, all rhetoric aside.
Actually, it would be funny to see them take back Congress and have to clean up their own mess. That would be entertaining.
Do you really expect to be taken seriously with a background like that?
We voted you out, so GO AWAY already
(and while you are at it, please shut up too, we are tired of your failed slogan rhetoric)
It's that old line from the right: It's OK If A Republican Does It.
It also never occurred to me that seeing that my cash flow is tight that I should spend more rather than spend less. To cover the increased spending I would need to borrow it ("sale T bills to the Chinese"), but that must be ok as that is the approach O'Bama believes is right.
One question, If I end up with an unpaid tax debt because of not setting aside funds for taxes, is it ok to tell IRS collections that I plan on making a change to my spending budget next year so that I might be able to squeeze out that payment for that bill then?
Can you say Yankees Red Sox anyone. This isn't about action, this isn't about policy this is about hating the Vikings if I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. It's about bias.
GWB tried three conspiring terrorists in civilian courts, he set the precedent. Hypocrisy!!
Bush 43, the worst president in history, should not simply be "blamed." He and his entire crime family should be in prison.
It's hard to take the Republicans seriously when they cry about deficits when the bulk of the current deficits were generated under a Republican president with the support of a Republican congress. None of these jokers were crying about deficits when the voted for Bush's tax cuts, war spending, Medicare drug program all of which were paid for by deficit spending. Remember Cheney's famous quote "Deficits don't matter". I guess they don't, unless a Democratic president increases them to try to avoid a depresssion.
It's hard to take the Republicans seriously when they criticize Obama for trying to use the criminal justice system to punish terrorists and would-be terrorists when they have used the same approach in the past (Richard Reid, Ramsey Yousef, etc.).
It's hard to take the Republicans seriously when you have several of them trying to revise history and say that 9/11 didn't happen on Bush's watch. I'm pretty sure that is an indisputable fact.
Overall it's hard to take Republicans seriously at all. The writer and other Republicans can try their revisionist history all they want. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not your own facts.