President Obama gave some spine back to the Democrats in his State of the Union speech. He told his fellow party members "don't head for the hills." He said that health care reform is still vital and that he and his party would not drop their battle for it and would continue going for it. He came out for getting rid of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military. He challenged the Republicans to stop being the party of "no." He looked directly at Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative brethren and slammed their ilk for overturning almost a century of settled law banning corporate monies in American politics. He reiterated his support for a series of commitments he made during his presidential campaign on energy, terrorism, education, financial reform, taxes on banks, protecting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, cutting taxes, bringing down the deficit,
infrastructure and jobs and jobs. He vowed he would not quit. He was bouyant, combative, direct, eloquent, sarcastic, bubbly, forceful, unbowed, animated, commanding -- in short, a Democratic "happy warrior." He has rebuilt the party's spirits in one speech.
Stuart Whatley: Obama's State of the Union Falls Short on Correcting Citizens United
In the wake of the original 9/11 trial decision, Stephen Schlesinger wrote: "I think it is absolutely right to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators in NYC."
Now that the Obama Adminstration is in the in the midst of doing a 180 and kicking the trial out of NYC, will Mr. Schlesinger write: "I think it is absolutely right not to try the defendants in NYC?" Probably.
That is what lap dogs do.
During the entire speech, there was scant visible support from the Republicans for anything the POTUS said, yet he continues to talk about bipartisanship and regular meeting with both sides of the aisle. He doesn't need to meet with the Republicans regularly, he needs to make them hurt regularly. At the moment, there is simply ZERO incentive for them to do anything to further his agenda. The Republicans are all too well aware that it is they and their ideology of pathological deregulation unbridled greed that have created most of the problems this country faces, NOT "big government" or the "nanny state". If any of the major reforms that Obama was elected to bring are actually enacted, the Conservative movement as we know it would cease to exist once it became apparent that they work and benefit people. Helping the President achieve these goals would be political suicide for a party whose allegiance lies with Corporate America and not the People.
Obama needs to understand that nobody in their right mind will do that voluntarily, except the Dems...
Heck, even the promise to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell has been reiterated time and time again. Until it's actually proposed in legislation (like the next Defense budget) it doesn't mean much.
Tonight he made a good speech. I fear that, like the speeches in 2008, it is just rhetoric. His main advisors are still bankers. His main backers are still corporations. And I bet that the left will still get the shaft. One speech is not going to change much, if anything at all.
Lest you think that I am a grump, I should say that I want to believe, I want things to change, I want good. To say that this speech is going to give any spine at all to corporate dems is absurd. It is just a speech. Action is all that will do to make truth seeking dems to believe again. Spine? Meh.
Burn me once...
Yes, Obama gave a great speech. Yes he had some populist rhetoric.
But I heard little substance in it that could support and a lot that concerned me.
What I could support:
1) Repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell
2) Let the Bush tax cuts run out
3) Continuing the good stuff that was in last year's stimulus
What concerned me:
1) Nuclear power
2) Off shore drilling
3) The fiction of clean coal
4) Ignoring the problems our escalation in Afghanistan is causing
5) Creating a bipartisan commission for financial responsibility which gives conservatives a platform to call for cutting benefits
6) Thinking the way to build the economy is give tax credits. ::rolls eyes:: That only helps those who have enough income to pay taxes.
7) Freezing spending during a recession. (Keynes is rolling over in his grave)
8) The totally wrong approach to our education problems, more teaching to the test and taking money away from schools that need it.
What I didn't hear that concerned me
1) Public Option
2) Using reconciliation to fix the Senate Health Care bill
3) A constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United
4) Card Check
5) Renegotiating NAFTA (a campaign promise)
As an American FIGHTING man, I stand by my brothers and sisters in BLOOD who have put their lives on the line while dealing with the BS of discrimination.
It is 2010.
It is about time.
Now, let's get back to the grim business of WAR.