As I sat listening to the State of the Union lecture last night initially it kinda sounded almost, almost OK. Why? I put my "gee I never listen to anything political-I don't have a clue" hat on to try and get into the mind of the general population. I would guess that at first blush a lot of people really liked what he said. It just takes a bit for it all to sink in. He threw out a lot of stuff, didn't he? I kept trying to remember that saying about a turkey on every plate? Something for everyone, hmmm?
We who pay attention and keep up are not as much of an aberration as we used to be (thank goodness), but I still don't put us into the 'majority' category.
Obama threw so much stuff out there that sounded good... if you didn't understand reality, if you didn't know the background that led up to what he had to say, if you didn't catch the incongruity of his proposals and on and on.
When I put my "me" hat back on, I wasn't sure whether to laugh at the audacity of his hope we'd swallow his rhetoric or be angry at the lack of change he proposed.
Spending freeze... not even a drop in the bucket and one that goes into affect AFTER they've spent as much as they can cram in this year.
Earmarks on the Internet... why not just veto the darn things? why not just refuse a bill that has earmarks? (Too many, too impossible ;-) We already have groups that keep up with the earmarks in the bills and post them. I guess we can chalk that one up in the "job creation" column as who knows how many people will spend their days culling through bills trying to find all the earmarks to put some of them on the Internet. Do you trust them to put them all out there? correctly?
Partisan "dysfunction" (my term)... the Dems slam the door in the face of Republicans and then he calls for unity... Republican's scream from the rooftops touting their suggestions for healthcare reform, Dems and the White House claim they never heard anything and Obama has the nerve to stand before America and say he's willing to listen to any proposals. Hogwash. He's willing to TALK about it, to play a game of being open, but he does so as he walks, or runs, away from Republican ideas. Bottom line, if they don't fit within his agenda, if Pelosi, Reid or Obama's minions don't like 'em, they don't even bother with lip service.
$30 billion to community banks to lend... After all he's done to trash their big brothers, why would any community bank WANT money from Obama and friends? Can you imagine the strings that are going to be attached to that money? If I were a community bank I'd be running in the other direction when Uncle Obama held his hands out with a fistful of tax dollars.
Trashing big banks... if you're doing well enough to hand out bonuses then the government needs to step in and fine you. It's easy for us to pump our fists and say, heck yeah, go after those big fat cats. Slap 'em good will ya Mr. President? But think a moment. Let's say it was your business that was forced to take a chunk of money from the government. You took it. You repaid the money, with interest no less and well before it was due back under the terms loaned. You didn't run to the government for the money, they came to you. Now you're starting to do well again and life is looking good. Profits aren't were they were a few years ago, but your staff worked hard, stuck with you through the bad times and now it's time to honor their contracts. So you give them a nice gift certificate to go shopping at the local store. Uncle Obama says, wait a minute, you used the money I loaned to get on your feet and now you want to reward your staff? No way. You have to give us more than we agreed upon in the terms of the loan. We're changing the rules. We own you now. You can't give out gift certificates, only we can give out unlimited gift certificates. You get the picture. Instead of kicking the banks, he ought to be rewarding them.
Lobbyists... he wants Congress to disclose all contacts with lobbyists while neglecting to mention all the exceptions he made when putting together his cabinet. Here a lobbyist, there a lobbyist, everywhere a lobbyist. However, it's OK for me, the big goose, but not you ganders out there.
So much in the speech, so little time to hit on every single thing.
The war on terror? Hmmm, let me see, it was in there somewhere. I'll have to go back and read the speech again to find it. I remember he said our soldiers were going to be out of Iraq by August just in case the terrorists were wondering when to pack their bags to move back in.
Obama channeled his "tough love" persona last night. He was the stern parent calling his children to task for their misdeeds. Saying he was for the little guy (how much do you think his suit cost?), he chided the Democrats, attacked the Republicans (but tried to soften the blow by his parental "I'm speaking to Democrats, too" comments), slammed the Supreme Court, struck out at big business and on and on and on. If he didn't kick you in the shins it's simply because he didn't realize you existed.
Magnanimously Obama took some blame for the fact that his radical ideas have not taken hold in the country. He said he hadn't done an adequate job explaining things to all of us ol' dummies out here. We just don't get what he's tryin' to do folks. No siree. So, he's going to explain it again. And again. And again until we get it. If we hear it from the red room instead of the white room maybe we'll like it. He doesn't get it. He's not listening to US. We get it. We don't want what he's selling.
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