Thoughts on the State of the Union Address

President Barack Obama has been called a great orator, however, you could not tell it by his State of the Union speech. The speech confirmed only one thing: Obama is an ideologue who will not change course on either Health Care or Cap & Trade despite overwhelming opposition from the American people. In this, and his call for an end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he re-confirmed his liberal-progressive-socialist credentials.

I found it highly objectionable that the President criticized the Supreme Court in his speech and did so by boldly lying. The law that was overturned by the Supreme Court has not been in existence for a “century” because, as old as John McCain looks, neither he nor Russ Feingold were in office a century ago. It is clear he told that lie in an effort to intimidate the Court but that is an effort that will surely fail. His action was sophomoric and, in the end, demeaned not the Court, but the presidency. As was reported in the Politico, Justice Samuel Alito could be seen shaking his head and mouthing “not true” as the Democrats stood and applauded the lie.

The President bemoaned the continued partisanship in Washington without acknowledging his own party’s responsibility for the highly partisan climate in the Capital. This last year saw some of the most egregious partisan activity in modern history when both the House and the Senate wrote major legislation--called Obamacare by most--behind closed doors without any Republican presence. This he conveniently ignored while calling for Republicans join in the process.

As for American’s attitude towards the Federal Government, the President calls it a “deficit of trust” which could easily be the understatement of the century. The Obama Administration, abetted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democratic Party, has studiously destroyed the trust of the American people by its’ willful disdain for the voice of the people.

The poor speech by President Obama shows that he needs to understand a few things:

1. All America needs is for the Federal Government to get out of the way.  The Government is the problem not the answer.

2. Taxing big banks and big corporations results in higher costs that are passed on to the consumer. In other words, we the people will be paying more because of those taxes.

3. We need tax cuts, not tax credits.

4. The Federal Government cannot create jobs nor does it, or has it ever, created wealth. The Federal Government only takes wealth from others through taxation.

5. When the President allows the Department of Justice to dismiss voter intimidation charges against his supporters when they are surely guilty, it is unseemly to crow about a revitalization of Civil Rights prosecutions in that same Department.

6. Had the President actually pursued “common sense” reforms this last year when the Democratic Party completely controlled Congress, some of those common sense reforms could have easily been passed.

7. Providing for the security of the nation does not include providing Constitutional rights to enemy combatants. The nation’s security is also not served by bring enemy combatants into civilian courts.

8. Blaming President Bush is no longer an acceptable explanation.

The President made it clear that he would not back down on his twin goals of Health Care and Cap & Trade. This doubling down on issues that are now known to be specious in their reasoning is something only a true ideologue would do. This bodes ill for the nation. If President Obama is unwilling to recognize that the American people are the final arbiters of what is right and good then he is ignorant of our Constitution.

And that is the problem.