President Obama's State of the Union Address

President Obama presented his State of the Union Address last night before both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, the President's cabinet, and some of the military brass such as Admiral Mike Mullen. President Obama pledged to refocus his agenda on the nation's struggling economy. He claimed to make job creation his immediate goal as well as freezing some aspects of spending. The president acknowledged setbacks and missteps during his first year in office. He stated that he still intended to revamp the nation's healthcare system and he even "apologized" for not sufficiently explaining the healthcare overhaul bill to the American people. One thing he didn't say was the bribery and the closed door meetings that took place by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to force the more moderate liberal Democratic Senators to vote for the healthcare overhaul. "I campaigned on the promise of change--'Change we can believe in', the slogan went." "Right now, I know there are many Americans who aren't sure if they still believe we can change--or that I can deliver it." The truth is the Obama administration and Congress are delivering change but not the kind of change the American people are looking for when they voted for him in 2008. Efforts are being made to transform America into a socialist nation. The government has already taken over the banking industry, General Motors, etc. and now is trying to seize control of the nation's healthcare system, which is roughly 1/6th of the nation's economy. The government is trying to exert more and more control over the American people.

President Obama has outlined what USA Today said are "modest plans." They are reducing business taxes, rebuilding roads and rail lines, and retrofitting homes. He offered to work with Republicans and even meet with them monthly to build some kind of consensus. Since the U.S. Senate no longer has 60 seats in Democratic hands, he's going to try to make some gesture toward the Republican Party. President Obama was trying to recast himself as President due to the voter angst the last several months with the Tea Party movement and Democratic gubernatorial losses in New Jersey and Virginia as well as a U.S. Senate seat went into Republican hands. President Obama chastised Wall Street for excessive pay and Washington for outsized influence by special interests. President Obama also took aim at the Supreme Court ruling last Thursday which struck down certain provisions of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance bill. The Court ruled 5-4 that Congress couldn't establish corporate and labor union spending limits when it comes to supporting political candidates. Supreme Court Justice Alito scowled and was saying to himself, "That's not true," when it came to Obama chastising the Supreme Court's decision. I agree that Wall Street's out of control. However, Wall Street owns our government. The Obama administration last year continued some of the same Bush policies in regards to government bailouts on AIG, Chrysler and General Motors. I have mixed feelings about last Thursday's Supreme Court ruling. I'm not in favor of allowing corporations and labor unions spending unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns for no other reason because our politicians are beholden to them. I don't want our government beholden to Wall Street, corporations, oil companies, the ACLU, or even foreign interests. Our government is to be representing Americans-at-large; not special interests who don't have the country's interest at stake.

President Obama called for a three-year spending freeze on most domestic spending, a requirement that Congress pay for tax cuts or benefit increases, and a bipartisan task force to handle the broader deficit. That sounds fine, but what areas is he going to make cuts? Is he going to reduce spending in some areas and increase it in others? Many times Congress has played that game. They will limit spending in some areas and increase it in others. The deficit as it stands is an estimated 13.5 trillion dollars. President Obama has spent more in one year than President Bush spent in four. President Obama also chastised Republicans for "just saying no to everything" and reminded the Democrats, "The people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills." The Republicans were right in saying no to Obama's agenda. President Obama's agenda is socialist and somebody needs to stand against his agenda. However, the Republicans need to create a distinct outline of their own agenda. The Republican Party needs to start immediately and hammer on certain themes when running for the Congressional elections this fall. The Republicans need to draw up an agenda similar to the "Contract with America" in 1994 when Republicans captured both the House and Senate that year. The Republican Party needs to show the American people they have a clear vision in handling these issues. The problem is the Republicans don't have a backbone in them.

One item that President Obama mentioned that I found disturbing was he recalled his intention to repeal the "Don't Ask, don't tell" policy enacted during the Clinton administration. The gay rights groups support Obama and Obama wanted to reassure the homosexual lobby that he supports their cause. That was very pitiful. The gay rights lobby is another interest group that's not good for America. Obama also mentioned about climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gasses in the earth's atmosphere. There was a climate change summit in Copenhagen, Demark at the end of last year, but the United States didn't sign any agreement.

President Obama also made the statement that he excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions. Obama may have kicked some lobbyists off advisory boards, but corporate executives can serve on boards. Also, there's numerous lobbyists that lobby Congress and the president to pass legislation on certain causes. I would like to know how many lobbyists were involved in the healthcare debate? I would say there are more lobbyists involved than one can imagine. President Obama is not going to rid Washington of lobbyists. Some of the czars and other personnel that Obama has in his administration are former lobbyists anyway.

President Obama mentioned very little about the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq and the earthquake in Haiti. President Obama stressed about the need for job creation in America as well as his desire to pass the healthcare bill. Obama's answer to America's healthcare problems is a massive government bureaucracy. Instead of devoting his time in trying to push healthcare, he needs to give tax incentives and remove cumbersome regulations which make it difficult for small businesses to hire new people. The key to job recovery is the private sector. Government can't grow the economy. I do believe the government should rein in the excesses of Wall Street and break up the monopolies. Otherwise, leave the private sector alone and allow them to function in a competitive environment.

Even though I'm a critic of the Obama administration, I wasn't bent out of shape over his speech he gave last night. I heard Bill O'Reilly analyzing his speech this evening on the Factor. However, Barack Obama is just a puppet. What I'm concerned with are those that prop up Obama and pull his strings. I'm concerned about those czars that President Obama has in his administration as well as the power of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is accountable to nobody. There are some things that President Obama doesn't control. However, President Obama hasn't lived up to his campaign promises about transparency. There was much bribery taking place during the Senate's debate on healthcare. Thee were closed door meetings on the healthcare debate. He criticizes the Republicans for always saying no, but he has a supermajority in both Houses with the Democrats. If all the Democrats were unified in both houses of Congress, he would've achieved the legislative agenda he desired. The only major legislative agenda that was accomplished was the stimulus bill in February, but that was just a huge spending bill which didn't have much effect on stimulating the economy. As of yet, he hasn't been able to persuade Congress to pass a cap and trade bill, which is part of his agenda. Since Scott Brown's election to the Massachusetts Senate seat, there may be some problems with both houses of Congress in trying to pass a final version of the healthcare bill which both the House and Senate approved late last year. However, the problem is there are some liberal Democrats that aren't as progressive and they had problems with some of the legislation that President Obama tried to promote. It wasn't the Republicans who placed a roadblock on Obama's agenda. It was the more "moderate" Democrats that placed a roadblock on his agenda. After Obama's State of the Union address, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response.