State of Disunion
Now this wouldn't be much of a blog if I didn't weigh-in on the state of the union address from this past Tuesday would it?
First impression; if I were going to watch this with an open mind and only for the appreciation of hearing some good speech making, that too would have been a disappointment. If there's one thing this President is supposed to excel at it's his ability to give a rousing speech. Apparently that only applies to campaigns, not governance.
I am reminded of the marketing rule that says nothing you say about your business should ever be answered with "well, I would hope so". As an example, there is a hospital in Milwaukee airing a radio spot promoting themselves as the place to go a second opinion. All well and good, but then the radio narrator says "and we'll even look at your medical records." ? WTF? Isn't that what a second opinion is?
So for a lot of Obama's speech I heard myself saying well, I would hope so. I mean isn't it rather bizarre that commentators felt compelled to comment that the President of the United States actually considers the Untied States exceptional? Well, I would hope so, that's what they are supposed to do. That this idea was noteworthy at all must mean there must have been some doubt for the dutiful press to dispel.
Speaking of mainstream media, you might have caught, either by the echo affect itself, or from the story here: Jornolistas are alive and well. When so many use identical talking points it's kind of obvious. Weird how it's obviousness is not obvious to them. You can underestimate being underestimated by the mainstream media.
As if comparing Obama to Reagan isn't the height of absurdity in it's own right. Yeah right, Reagan was President once, and Obama is President now, but that pretty much taps out all valid comparisons. (I do find it helpful to keep reminding myself that those who bought the idea this guy was qualified for the job will pretty much buy anything, "those" meaning the mainstream press' target demographic, a.k.a. the galactically gullible)
Second impression; we have the ship of state taking on water, but not to worry, the crew changed the seating arrangements! Why am I not hopeful? If anything Loughner accomplished with his shooting it is providing the Democrats a way to hide their substantially diminished numbers in the house. Stay classy Dems.
Third impression; as I said in my Facebook comment; so we have a guy whose profligate spending broke records in year one, breaks his own record in year two, and starts year three lecturing the rest of us on the virtues of frugality. Really? Can anyone really take him seriously anymore?
Well, you have to admit though, that does take some damn serious audacity. But the "hope" part remains elusive.
One comment that really stood out with me was; "last November's election tells us that the American people want us to work together". Just. Wow. Were we watching the same returns? I thought it told us, in no uncertain terms, we need a change in management, a change in direction, and a change in priorities.
The message from the American people was yelling stop, or at the very least, stop spending! You've got to give Obama credit for being an optimist though, I mean, assuming he's sincere in that belief, who else could spin the most resounding midterm thrashing in more than a half a century into bipartisan kumbaya pablum with a straight face?
The dude's either got a serious cognitive disconnect or we've been given even more evidence as to why they keep his college transcripts secret - - because if that is what he took away from the midterms he's barely a half notch above drooler.
Related links:
'It's as if Obama is daring the voters - and the Republicans - to prove they really want smaller government. He's manning the barricades for Obamacare and he's here with yet another spending - excuse me, investment - spree."
and closes with...
"From the moon landing to solar shingles. Is there a better example of American decline?"
Hanson: No link because this is his entire reaction courtesy NRO The Corner:
The Old Lines Just Won’t Cut It
January 27, 2011 12:19 P.M.
By Victor Davis Hanson
After the media acclaim dies down, I think history will record that Obama’s State of the Union was abjectly derelict. With another $1 trillion–plus deficit on the horizon, he offered no meaningful way to reduce the debt but instead many ways to add to it.
He does not seem to get that he is facing in 2011 a perfect storm of sky-high energy prices, rising food prices, more 9.4 percent unemployment, astronomical budget deficits, the looming nightmare of the implementation of Obamacare, and a sinking dollar, and yet is still offering the old boilerplate about green this-and-that and the nefarious top 2 percent of the country. It is almost as if he is some sort of automaton that keeps up the preprogrammed sound bites even as the batteries weaken and it sputters out.
Since any link to Professor Hanson is time well spent here here's a bonus link; Proteus in Chief
(From Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms. Hanson neatly describes the various forms Obama has taken since his entrance onto the national stage. Always interesting to get a historical viewpoint.)
Henninger too, I thought.
You COULD make one comparison of BO to RR: Reagan believed as much in the power of the people as Barry believes that government is best suited to solve all of our problems, especially if you throw enough money at them.
Never mind that thecomparison derives a correlation slope of 0!
I didn't listen to his speech, but I did read it, as well as Ryan's. My impression is that Ryan's was grounded in reality andcommon sense, whereas BO was more of the same: we must spend our way to prosperity and deficit reduction.
I personally think the guy is so consumed by his leftist ideology that he actually BELIEVES his own PR...(a fatal mistake in business, by the way), despite the fact that the man on the street recognizes it as pure gibberish, bordering on lunacy.
All madmen have one thing incommon: They mistake their madness for reality.
Is that what we have here? I'm beginning to think so.
A notch above drooling indeed.
Reply to this