They broke it. I’ll fix it. Such was the gist of Obama’s State of the Union address last night. The title I had in mind for this post before the speech was “The Good. the Bad and the Ugly”. I scrapped that idea because there was not enough of any of those qualities in the speech to justify it. It was a lot of whining and not much more.
Clinton’s first State of the Union address was inspiring and full of encouragement. Reagan’s was uplifting and turned the mood of the nation from one of embarrassment over the Nixon affair to a vision of America as a shining light on a hill. Obama’s speech last night was very much the opposite. It was a downbeat presentation of the President’s view of America as a struggling and suffering nation in need. A loser, if you will allow the vernacular.
He blamed the need on reckless actions by banks, speculators, insurance companies, and failures of prior administrations.
There is a time and place to criticize the Supreme Court if you are so disposed. Obama seemed not to realize this was neither the time nor place. The Supreme Court of the United States of America is without doubt the most respected of the three branches of our government. The President’s broadside was an insult to that august body.
Obama said “The best anti-poverty program around is a first class education”. I liked that. In an effort to appear open to Republican input regarding health care reform he said if others have ideas “Let me know. Let me know. Let me know. “I’m eager to see it” (sic). Does he not know Republicans were locked out of a health care deliberation room? Did he forget he his own refusal to allow CNN to televise proceedings despite his promise otherwise? Is he not aware of the attempts to limit health care debate in the Senate to 48 hours? And that Republicans were not to be given a copy of the bill in advance of that 48 hours?
Given such history it takes a lot of hubris to claim you are open to other ideas. Then again, it may not be hubris, just humble dishonesty.
RANDOM THOTS 