Obama’s hour plus opus elicited the usual jack-in-the-box response from Democrats (usually) when he mentioned some pet program or some populist measure. Clearly, the message that Obama took from the most recent Democrat loss in Massachusetts was: it’s the economy, stupid. And so he reflexively talked about jobs and struggling Americans. OK, he feels our pain. But the effect was lost when he cycled back to his real agenda of health care, global warming and maligning the business community. Obama ranted on about the insurance industry, the banks and lobbyists. RedStateVT says: If these entities are breaking the law, then they should be prosecuted. If not, then stop making them the whipping boys for everything you don’t like about capitalism.
Other lowlights:
--Obama talked about the success that has been achieved in fighting Al Qaeda during his first year, compared to 2008. Really Mr. President, you want to compare yourself to George Bush on the national security issue?
--Obama wants all earmarks to be published so the American people can see them. What does this remind us of? Oh yeah, health care “transparency.” Sorry, but you just have no credibility on that.
--Also laughable was the President’s attempt to alibi on the issue of spending and deficits. He tried to get away with saying, in effect, it was bad when I took over and I only made it a little worse.
And finally, Obama talked as he often does about bipartisanship and how the American public wants and deserves more cooperation and better results from its elected officials. However, the approach he always takes in dealing with Republicans is akin to the old Russian style of negotiating: everything you have is negotiable, nothing I have is negotiable. Hence, he tells Republicans to bring forth their ideas and then soundly ignores them.
Score this speech as yet another missed opportunity. Did we mention that it was too long? Even Harry Reid was caught yawning!
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