Another Obama State of the Union Address. Oh, joy.
As I've said before, I watch this garbage so you don't have to, but it's getting more difficult every year.I made a few remarks immediately afterwards while posting the Watcher's Council nominations this week, and that's really most of what you need to know:
"L'Estat is Moi! Apres Moi, le deluge!" Yes, we are officially back in the days of the French Bourbons and the ineffectual, narcissistic and parasitic pre-revolution days of Louis XVI.
He is, given his own words, a failure. The five years of inequality and economic stagnation he talked about belong to him, as much as he tries to put the blame elsewhere.
So now, he informs us that he plans to rule with a pen, to stop 'standing still' and rule even more than he already has by diktat, decree and executive order..even if he has to precipitate a constitutional crisis to do it.
Oh, and that bit of drama about 'forcing' Federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour? The contractors will do so gladly, with a cynical smirk or two, because they know they won't be picking up the bill, and neither will the president - the taxpayers will. It's a perfect example of this president's signature dishonesty and contempt for the rest of us.
It was embarrassing to listen to and even more embarrassing to reflect that this is whom we have leading our country.
Embarrassing isn't the word for it.
However, now that I've had the chance to recover a bit, there are a few more points of interest I could mention.
President Obama's speech reminded me of a used car pitchman, using the same script once again because that's all he knows and hey, it worked in the past didn't it? Even some of his more intelligent supporters are scratching their heads. If this is the year of action, what's been going on for the last five? if the economy's doing so great, why are so many people still on food stamps? Why are prices on staples and utilities skyrocketing? Where are all the jobs? Why did I lose my healthcare when I was supposed to be able to keep it, and why do I have to buy new coverage at five times the price for higher deductibles and a lot less coverage? OK, I love the part about rebuilding are infrastructure and creating all those new jobs, but wasn't that what that trillion dollar stimulus was supposed to be for? Those shovel ready jobs?
Yes the doubt is setting in.
Speaking of utilities, the president made an off hand mention of them that might be worth noticing.That shift to a 'cleaner energy economy' and those 'tough choices along the way' he was talking about? Guess who's going to be suffering the consequences of those 'tough choices'? I guarantee you, it won't be him.
Yes, what our president was saying, essentially, is that if you like your current appliances and the amount of energy you have available 24-7, you're going to be able to keep it. Just like your health insurance and your doctor. I just had someone from the local power company try to talk me into replacing my current meter with a brand spanking new 'smart-grid' model. Fortunately, I understand that the new meters allow the power company to shut off my power and appliances remotely at their whim or the government's, in the Holy Name of Global Warming, so I declined. President Obama and has EPA undoubtedly want to fix it so declining isn't an option anymore. Just like in the UK.
And the president touting for more green energy scams? I think we've seen how those work, haven't we? Can you say, Solyndra, half a billion dollars plundered? Sure you can.
Other stuff? Of course there was the shout out for amnesty. But I noticed that Republicans Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor were on their feet clapping like seals along with the Democrats. Something is in the works.
And of course, there was also a bit of outre' racism for the president's most loyal supporters..."I’m reaching out to some of America’s leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing tough odds stay on track and reach their full potential."
'Reaching out' in President Obama's usual context means threats and arm twisting. Had he said 'disadvantaged' or something like that, it would have been something else. But what he wants is raced-based quotas, special set-asides and 'diversity' positions that specifically exclude whites and Asians, or else. I give him credit for being honest enough to say so.
His spiel on voting rights was also the same tired nonsense. President Obama favors voting rights all right, but only for those people that are likely to vote for him, even if it means enabling voter fraud. Anyone else needs to have their votes suppressed.
The most ludicrous part of the speech was towards the end, and contained a brief wrap up of the president's wonderful record on foreign policy.
He started out with some frankly insulting garbage about the military which you might have missed unless you actually are aware of what's going on. Check this out:
"And I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.
Tonight, because of the extraordinary troops and civilians who risk and lay down their lives to keep us free, the United States is more secure."
Yes, that's exactly why the president and his team slashed retirement and medical benefits to the tune of $6 billion on veterans and on no one else in that ridiculous new budget bill, especially not the numerous bureaucrats in his entourage. And oddly enough, there's another disgraceful decision Paul Ryan was instrumentally involved in.
It's why the president gutted Tri-Care, something millions of vets depended on so the White House could pay for ObamaCare. And his real feelings about the military were pretty clear a long time ago, when he tried to take away our wounded warrior's VA benefits as early as 2009, and why so many vets have been tossed out of the service just shy of receiving their pensions.
At this point, I'm going to censor myself. But Senator Ted Cruz had a few things to say that are worth looking at. So did Senator Rand Paul:
The president didn't go back to his old mantra of how 'al-Qaeda is on the run' (they're not, and in large part because of President Obama's actions). But he once again did some chest thumping about Iraq, and emphasized that yes, we're definitely pulling out of AfPak this year. I'm sure the Taliban were glad to hear that confirmed publicly once again.
He wants to close Club Gitmo, an odd notion for someone who mouths so many platitudes about fighting terrorists, since so many of them have gone right back to their old activities once they were kicked loose. And of course, he let the nation and the Ayatollahs know that he'll veto any attempts by Congress to try and actually stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
But you knew that.
So what are we left with here, after all this recycled, deceptive and tedious horse manure?
First off, the disappointment and fatigue of the Left is palpable, no matter what they say. Many of these people, for the most part, are socialists and statists who expected that by now, taxes would be up to 75% like France, a lot of those evil banksters would be in jail, cap and trade and other global warming initiatives would be firmly in place, there would be nation-wide gay marriage, the country would be disarmed with draconian gun confiscation, we'd be totally disengaged foreign policy-wise, even more industries would be nationalized and everything would be going just great.
Instead, they're left with a feeling of failure and disappointment. Five years in, things are definitely not going great. They had 4 years of total rule in Congress, two while Bush was president and two with Obama in the White House when they could do anything they wanted. And yes, they did a great deal of damage, damage that will take years to repair. But they didn't get most of what they wanted, simply because of our Dear Leader's incompetence and self-indulgence, something most of them will not dare admit, but enough have so that you can see it and smell it in the air. Oh, some of Obama's cronies and donors got to pillage the treasury, but this was definitely not the hope n' change they were sold. On election night, these people were celebrating. Now, they're unhappy, with diminished expectations.
All they're left with, really, is a lot of words, a number of nasty scandals and the dysfunctional and unpopular ObamaCare.
And the rest of us? We're pretty disappointed as well.
In 2010, Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint mobilized the Tea Party, took back the House and elected enough Republicans to the Senate that we figured they would at least stop the rot and curb the worst abuses. Instead, a number of 'conservatives' happily became part of the GOP establishment, especially the leadership. They betrayed the people who put them in office and mostly caved in and stood by while this president was committing his worst abuses, spending their energies instead on making war on the Tea Party and those Republicans unwilling to join them in going along to get along.
Our expectations are likewise diminished, and you could see that in the over 3 million Republicans who simply stayed home on election day in 2012.
So that's the real state of the union..depressed, tired and beaten down.
This is very dangerous, especially for our side. Because part of the Left's strategy, at least the ones in the top, is to make you shrug your shoulders and say, 'what's the use'? They're counting on another 4 years with Hillary to finish the job of wrecking our Republic.
Don't do it.Stay focused.
This is by no means a rah rah to get behind the current Republican party. They've been found wanting once too often and have proven to be unworthy of trust. After all of the nonsense that went down during the Bush Administration, the GOP, resurrected by Governor Palin and Senator DeMint was given one last chance to make things right in 2010. Instead, with a number of honorable exceptions, they embraced cowardice, self-interest and dysfunctional politics at their worst, and Palin and DeMint's reward for saving them was essentially to be run out of the party.
There is no basis to trust the GOP establishment any more. They would rather run a despicable RINO like Chris Christie, lose in 2016 and maintain their entrenched and entitled positions than run a conservative whom could energize the base and could win. . You can also expect them to make active war on conservative candidates rather than trying to defeat Democrats.
What needs to happen is a revolution..an electoral revolution like the one Ronald Reagan achieved in 1980.And this year, 2014, is where it starts.
For starters, it will be important to completely engage at the local level, realizing that this is going to be a two front war.
Since it's important not to get sucked into voting for Democrat funded Libertarian third party candidates and splitting the conservative vote, the idea is to force the party to accept the most conservative candidates out there who can get elected by getting actively involved in grass roots campaigning, primarying RINOs and creatures like John Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan. They need to pay a price for their treachery. Reagan's old and proven formula was to unite behind the most conservative and principled candidate available, and to make sure he or she knows that 2 years isn't that far away. It won't be perfect, but it will even put RINOs who survive on notice that times have changed.
The same thing goes in the senate. We need to unite and get solidly behind the most conservative Republican candidate available who's electable and force the GOP to move to where its base is.
At the same time, a message needs to be sent to the RNC and the RNSC that times have changed for them too. It's not enough merely to avoid giving them your money - they will always find a fat cat around somewhere, or the candidates will. But they do understand numbers. Massive phone calls, faxes and e-mails to these groups demanding that they cease being functionaries of the establishment and start paying attention to the base are going to have an effect, whether they like it or not. So will grass roots political victories.
It's either that, or somehow raise the money and take the time to create a brand new party. It can be done, but it means ceding the 2016 elections to the Clinton and another 4 years of destruction.
My way at least has a fighting chance of stopping them.
Think about it. Unwittingly, President Obama has given us an opportunity.
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