State Of The Union?

 

Last night was the first night of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. For those of you who've been there, it's  a serious street party and a night when people put on masks and costumes and pretend to be something they're not - to deceive people.

It was a perfect choice for the night of this president's State of the Union.

For the masochists among you, the entire text is here, but I can tell you everything you need to know about it with a lot less pain.

First, the president's delivery was astounding for a man who just won re-election. It was halting, stumbling and for the most part gave the impression that President Obama would rather have been anywhere else.There was even a faint air of resentment. Can it be that even he realizes deep inside that the act is wearing thin, but still was obliged to put on the performance?

Rather than an energetic war cry to the progressive Übermenschen we were told to expect, it was, well, small. Just a tired restatement of the same old failed agenda and false claims. It was even even petulant at times.

The content itself is what you'd call a target rich environment, to the point where it's difficult to know where to start to deconstruct this lame gibberish, although I though Senator Rand Paul did a decent job:


Marco Rubio wasn't bad either, and probably a bit more charismatic:

Interesting how both of them trod pretty much the same ground...

For my part, and especially since I don't have to be correct in the least, here are just a few specific nuggets neither one mentioned per se. I won't even bother going after President Obama's fairy tales about deficit reduction or job creation:

 "My message is simple. It is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms, and I will sign them right away."

 Please,my sides. Shipping jobs overseas? You mean like the UAW that owns GM courtesy of your rewarding them for campaign donations and political support, let alone taxpayer dollars to seal the deal and a $450 billion tax break so they needn't pay taxes and can build cars in China? And after all, Mr. President...with ObamaCare,a poisonous regulatory environment, high energy costs and the highest corporate taxes in the developed world, why would they create jobs here?

 "I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We’ve subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough."

 First of all, almost all of the president's pet green energy projects ala' Solyndra have been total failures, except when it comes to fattening the personal wallets of the well connected Obama donors running them. They haven't created jobs, and they haven't provided cheaper or more reliable energy unless you count political hot air.

Oh, and by the way..the Germans are more than willing for you to take as much of the solar action as you can handle.You must of missed that briefing too.

 And that bit about 'subsidizing' the oil companies.. The average profit for one the Evil Oil Companies for locating the oil, drilling it out of the ground, shipping it, refining it into gasoline, marketing it and shipping it to your local gas station is around 9% per gallon. Government's cut, just for being there? Depending on your state and local taxes, between 22-28%!

So guess what...Big Government loves high gas prices,because the higher they go, the more of your money they get to grab.Any wonder that President Obama's policies have been grooved to encourage price hikes, by handcuffing domestic production, vetoing the Keystone Pipeline and encouraging monetary policies like quantitative easing that weaken the dollar? And that affects not just the price at the pump, but the price of food at the market and goods people buy that get shipped by trucks and trains that gulf fuel to run. And might we mention all the jobs this has eliminated?

Way to champion the middle class, Mr. President!

The president mentioned in passing in last night's remarks that Americans are using less oil. At $4.00+ per gallon, we sure are, Mr. President. As little as we can, because we can't all  manage to be driven around in pimped out black Cadillac Escalades or on Air Force One at someone else's expense.

 The president also thumped his chest about how he ended the Iraq War, even though the entire agreement on withdrawing our forces was set up by President Bush and all Obama had to do was keep hitting the golf course for that to occur. Howdy Doody could have been elected president and the war would have ended. Not only that, but let's not forget how the Iraq war ended...the surge strategy, which President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry and yes Chuck Hagel all opposed and did their very best to sabotage. How hypocritical and self-deluding to you have to be to take credit for something not only did nothing to bring about but did your best to prevent in the name of partisan politics?

 Oh, and I loved this one: "And while it’s ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we will advocate for those values that have served our own country so well. We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings, men and women, Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty."

So that's why this president has enabled and supported the Islamist takeover of Egypt, because they're oh-so-democratic and into human rights and all that.That's why we're shipping F-16's and Abrams tanks to Mohammed Morsi who considers Jews the descendants of apes and pigs, has his paid gangs rape women protestors in Cairo and supports sharia law that will take away the rights of women and Christians! That's why we're funding Hamas and the unelected dictator of the Palestinian Authority.That's why we've been arming the Syrian rebels even though we know that they're dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and even al-Qaeda affiliates.Who knew?

And I won't even get into the numerous people with strong Muslim Brotherhood connections or people whom can only be considered their dupes who work in the administration..

President Obama may be advocating for something,but it isn't liberty or American values.

I often wonder how future generations will view these times. We've had three Boomer presidents, and all three have been self-involved, narcissistic, and self-serving, with President Obama by far being the worst of the lot.Former President Bush, with all his failings at least had the grace to appear embarrassed some of the time and at least to demonstrate some humility from time to time.

In an e-mail thread today, it was mentioned that Fidel Castro came from the middle class, and that his father owned a banana plantation. My response was that Castor was a typical Marxist - just like Lenin, someone whom came out of the comfortable well-off, middle class bourgeoisie and grew up to somehow learn to hate his own class so much that he made it his life's mission to destroy it.

It occurs to me that this is President Obama's story as well.

It's embarrassing that this president considers us fools, expects us to swallow this kind of swill and say 'thank you sir! May I have another?' But that's the situation we find ourselves in.It's like living in Rome during the period of the Bad Emperors that started once Commodus became emperor in 180 AD and continued for about a century - no term limits back then except the ones you get with a sword in the ribs or a poisoned wine cup.

The country is crying for leadership, whether those in the DC and media bubbles realize it or not.And politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum.

As the Chinese say, we live in interesting times.