State of Nation speech 2010
Barak Obama’s state of the union address on Jan. 27, 2010 was long on words and short on viable solutions to the nation’s problems. The speech was poorly written. Obama stressed bi-partisanship proving that he had learned little over the past year about working with Republicans.
Those who expected to be disappointed with Obama’s proposals were disappointed. He proved that Winston Churchill’s observation that “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they’ve exhausted all other possibilities,” still applies.
The president failed to identify the real problems and their causes. Some of his facts were wrong. He claimed the Bush Administration left a $3 trillion hole in the budget. In fact, it was $5 trillion. The billions Bush spent to eliminate the Clinton $200 billion per year surplus should be added in also. Obama pointed out that the solutions offered by the Republicans are the policies of the past eight years that were so disastrous. In fact, it was Republican practices since Ronald Reagan. The Republican response, nevertheless, trotted out those old failed policies as if they were new and untried.
There was little sign that Obama was ready to fight for any of his proposals. Apparently all of his rhetoric in Elyria, Ohio about fighting took all of the fight out of him. Instead he wound up his speech trying to shame the Republicans into working for someone other than their beloved corporations, but the all-white side of the isle was hanging no heads. He reminded them that security and American values are not mutually exclusive.
The president proposed a jobs program in areas such as high speed rail and clean energy. He also proposed a three-year freeze on government spending. He failed to mention the promised tax increases on the rich, a plan enacted under Bill Clinton that contributed to the prosperity of the 1990s, and four years of balanced budgets.
It’s not as if the current economic crisis is uncharted territory. We’ve been here before. We know what caused it. We know what worked to solve it. Why do our leaders pretend to be in the dark? From 1921 to 1933, the Republicans controlled every branch of the Federal Government. They implemented supply-side economics and deregulation and tumbled the country into The Great Depression. Massive government spending by Democrats beginning in 1933 came to the rescue until 1937 when caution led to a stall back into economic sluggishness. The Republicans under Reaganomics repeated their 1920s catastrophe. Why does Obama feel a need to make the same 1930s Democratic mistakes?
Obama still believes, or claims to believe, that the bank bailouts were necessary. If so, why did the financial institutions have record profits in 2009. He promised to slap the biggest banks on the wrists with a small fee. In this nation, only the poor are punished. If the banks can afford large bonuses, they can afford to pay back those loans, he claimed. But what about the trillions given to them by the Federal Reserve. Congress doesn't know the exact numbers because the Reserve refuses to provide them. The Federal Reserve seems to be beyond the reach of the law and and Congress. Yet, U.S. citizens are responsible for their debts.
Obama made promises to the nation to emphasize technology and science education and close the education gap with our commercial competitors. China, Germany and India are leading in this area, and the U.S. must do better to compete, he observed. Whoever leads the clean energy economy will lead the global economy, he predicted.
He would like to bypass the banks in the student loan process where they skim off a nice profit for themselves. Loan repayment amounts should not be more than 10% of the graduate’s annual income. Obama bemoaned the inferior products of our educational system. Of course, the wise approach would be to do what most other nations do, provide free higher education for all of those who perform well. That way talented children, rather than spoiled, borderline retarded rich children, get the degrees.
Obama began the speech claiming he has never been more hopeful about the nation’s future. If he could see the politicians from our perspective, he wouldn’t make that claim.
The president promised “Jobs would be the number one focus in 2010.” He added that companies that ship jobs overseas would lose their tax breaks. Thirty nine billion dollars will go to banks to make loans to small businesses and tax breaks to those that create jobs and increase wages.
Obama had a bag of goodies for students, small businesses, healthcare assistance, childcare and other constituencies, but he lacked the bold enterprises necessary to overcome the crisis. He is following the American tradition of trying everything else before doing the right thing. He will look for the uniquely American way which always is so elusive and doomed to failure.
The obligatory time was devoted to praising the humanity and high values of the American people. Even though these have never existed, all presidents must pretend they do.
The same old Republican speech:
The Republicans chose newly elected Virginia governor Bob McConnell to read the Republican response. The speech always is the same so they should just show a video of Ronald Reagan or Herbert Hoover reading it. McConnell wasn’t allowed to walk up to the podium after the Bobby Jindal fiasco that ended the sharp rise of the Louisiana governor’s presidential bid.
McConnell charged Obama and the Democrats with the obstructions the Republicans practiced over the past year. The Republican base never will catch on.
McConnell blamed the deficits and debts on the Obama Administration even though 92% of it was the consequence of Reaganomics. In fact, Republicans like Dick Cheney claimed Reagan proved that debt doesn’t matter. It’s only money we owe to ourselves, Reagan proclaimed.
McConnel now becomes the Republican golden boy, and leading candidate for the 2012 presidency. He has good hair, so he meets all the qualifications. If only he can keep his mistresses or boyfriends quiet until he moves into the White House, the Republicans might get another chance to rob fetuses.
Those who expected to be disappointed with Obama’s proposals were disappointed. He proved that Winston Churchill’s observation that “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they’ve exhausted all other possibilities,” still applies.
The president failed to identify the real problems and their causes. Some of his facts were wrong. He claimed the Bush Administration left a $3 trillion hole in the budget. In fact, it was $5 trillion. The billions Bush spent to eliminate the Clinton $200 billion per year surplus should be added in also. Obama pointed out that the solutions offered by the Republicans are the policies of the past eight years that were so disastrous. In fact, it was Republican practices since Ronald Reagan. The Republican response, nevertheless, trotted out those old failed policies as if they were new and untried.
There was little sign that Obama was ready to fight for any of his proposals. Apparently all of his rhetoric in Elyria, Ohio about fighting took all of the fight out of him. Instead he wound up his speech trying to shame the Republicans into working for someone other than their beloved corporations, but the all-white side of the isle was hanging no heads. He reminded them that security and American values are not mutually exclusive.
The president proposed a jobs program in areas such as high speed rail and clean energy. He also proposed a three-year freeze on government spending. He failed to mention the promised tax increases on the rich, a plan enacted under Bill Clinton that contributed to the prosperity of the 1990s, and four years of balanced budgets.
It’s not as if the current economic crisis is uncharted territory. We’ve been here before. We know what caused it. We know what worked to solve it. Why do our leaders pretend to be in the dark? From 1921 to 1933, the Republicans controlled every branch of the Federal Government. They implemented supply-side economics and deregulation and tumbled the country into The Great Depression. Massive government spending by Democrats beginning in 1933 came to the rescue until 1937 when caution led to a stall back into economic sluggishness. The Republicans under Reaganomics repeated their 1920s catastrophe. Why does Obama feel a need to make the same 1930s Democratic mistakes?
Obama still believes, or claims to believe, that the bank bailouts were necessary. If so, why did the financial institutions have record profits in 2009. He promised to slap the biggest banks on the wrists with a small fee. In this nation, only the poor are punished. If the banks can afford large bonuses, they can afford to pay back those loans, he claimed. But what about the trillions given to them by the Federal Reserve. Congress doesn't know the exact numbers because the Reserve refuses to provide them. The Federal Reserve seems to be beyond the reach of the law and and Congress. Yet, U.S. citizens are responsible for their debts.
Obama made promises to the nation to emphasize technology and science education and close the education gap with our commercial competitors. China, Germany and India are leading in this area, and the U.S. must do better to compete, he observed. Whoever leads the clean energy economy will lead the global economy, he predicted.
He would like to bypass the banks in the student loan process where they skim off a nice profit for themselves. Loan repayment amounts should not be more than 10% of the graduate’s annual income. Obama bemoaned the inferior products of our educational system. Of course, the wise approach would be to do what most other nations do, provide free higher education for all of those who perform well. That way talented children, rather than spoiled, borderline retarded rich children, get the degrees.
Obama began the speech claiming he has never been more hopeful about the nation’s future. If he could see the politicians from our perspective, he wouldn’t make that claim.
The president promised “Jobs would be the number one focus in 2010.” He added that companies that ship jobs overseas would lose their tax breaks. Thirty nine billion dollars will go to banks to make loans to small businesses and tax breaks to those that create jobs and increase wages.
Obama had a bag of goodies for students, small businesses, healthcare assistance, childcare and other constituencies, but he lacked the bold enterprises necessary to overcome the crisis. He is following the American tradition of trying everything else before doing the right thing. He will look for the uniquely American way which always is so elusive and doomed to failure.
The obligatory time was devoted to praising the humanity and high values of the American people. Even though these have never existed, all presidents must pretend they do.
The same old Republican speech:
The Republicans chose newly elected Virginia governor Bob McConnell to read the Republican response. The speech always is the same so they should just show a video of Ronald Reagan or Herbert Hoover reading it. McConnell wasn’t allowed to walk up to the podium after the Bobby Jindal fiasco that ended the sharp rise of the Louisiana governor’s presidential bid.
McConnell charged Obama and the Democrats with the obstructions the Republicans practiced over the past year. The Republican base never will catch on.
McConnell blamed the deficits and debts on the Obama Administration even though 92% of it was the consequence of Reaganomics. In fact, Republicans like Dick Cheney claimed Reagan proved that debt doesn’t matter. It’s only money we owe to ourselves, Reagan proclaimed.
McConnel now becomes the Republican golden boy, and leading candidate for the 2012 presidency. He has good hair, so he meets all the qualifications. If only he can keep his mistresses or boyfriends quiet until he moves into the White House, the Republicans might get another chance to rob fetuses.
posted by Unknown at 10:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home