Missed the Mark

The president missed the mark last night in his State of the Union address. He failed to talk about balancing the budget and securing entitlements for the next generation. He promised to veto Keystone, to veto changes to Obamacare and his most recent immigration executive orders, and he will veto any changes to his recent financial regulations. So much for working across the aisle.

We are teetering on the brink of a nuclear Iran, and Obama pressed in his speech to hold off on sanctions. Seemingly the leader of the free world is more than willing to trust the flower child negotiations of John Kerry, rather than back up the recommendations of Israel – a country far more experienced in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and clandestine nuclear growth.

During the State of the Union address, I felt like we were being seduced in an alternate reality of a utopian universe where archenemies are willing to put aside hundreds of years of ill will, where economics were as simple as taking from the rich and sprinkling the plunders over the poor, and where climate change was a bellwether of the death of the universe.

My “favorite” part of the speech was when Obama promised to close Gitmo, and apparently this is one promise that he plans to make good on – notwithstanding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, terror in Australia, Canada, Bali, France, Iraq and Afghanistan by the Taliban, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, etcetera.  

Fortunately Obama cannot run again.

More of the Same -- Keeping My Fingers Crossed

Although President Obama implied after the most recent election that he may be inclined work with the entire Congress, his words of late are illustrating the opposite. With a new proposed tax hike and a list of more government freebies (free Junior College tuition, et al.) and the president’s most current promise to go on the “offensive” during his last two years in office, it is clear that he has not taken heed to the pounding he received in November. Really, why should he since he still has his “pen” and his “phone?” He is going to go down as the most polarizing president in U.S. history with his antagonistic inability to engage cooperation from both sides. Any president can govern by fiat. It takes a real leader to work with both sides of the aisle.

Two more years to go, and hopefully the damage won’t be terribly egregious or long lasting. But “hopefully” is the operative word here. . .