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Jan
SOTU Initial Thoughts
Well, I at least waited overnight to give my thoughts on President Obama’s first State of the Union speech. I thought at times he was good-natured, but the overall impression I got was that he was smug. He seemed to be insinuating that the people of this country are too dumb to get the fact that we NEED this healthcare reform. I also think the spending freezes are a joke. In fact, when he said they would not go into effect until NEXT year that drew a laugh from the chamber. How about cuts? There is so much waste that can be scaled back.
I also thought it was interested that he took the opportunity several times to take a slash at the previous administration. We have been starting to see this over the last couple weeks. It worked well on the campaign trail, so he has brought it back out after suffering embarrassing electoral defeats over the last couple months, particularly last week in Massachusetts.
I was glad to hear him mention the need for America to be second to no one, but it felt hollow. However, at least he said it rather than apologizing for America as he has in the past. He continues to call Iran the “Islamic Republic of Iran,” which I do not believe any other President has ever done. This bothers me but does not surprise me.
I do think it was interesting that Mr. Obama took a direct swipe at the Supreme Court and their decision to side with the Constitution (you know, that pesky document that this country is founded on) in their ruling on campaign finance last week. Many are surprise Justice Alito apparently mouthed the words “Not true,” but I am more surprised by this lack of decorum by the President. I do not ever remember this being done before, but I could be wrong.
I simply was not impressed with the speech. I do not think it will really help or hurt the President, but he desperately is looking for something to help him, as his poll numbers and the Democrat majority are both dwindling. However, I do like his message that the people have lost all trust in Washington. That is very true. However, in my opinion you do not fix that by making more programs and having more control over the people. Take control of the few things that government does well (defense, infrastructure, etc.) and remove barriers for people wanting to help themselves. If you do that, it will restore the trust in Washington from the American people.
