What Lies Beneath the Surface of Obama's State of the Union
In his State of the Union address, President Obama at times sounded like he was channeling Ronald Reagan: cutting the deficit, hailing private enterprise and individual initiative, talking about the future. But for all his eloquence, the president wrapped his liberal ideology in conservative sheep's clothing.
On the surface, the president said many things with which conservatives might agree, but words can mean something, or they can mask true intentions.
There was no indication the president plans to retreat on his far-left agenda of the last two years. Why should he? That would require denying who he is.
Absent the glamorous rhetoric, let's examine the major subjects on which the president touched.
EDUCATION: Anyone who has seen the film "Waiting for Superman" knows the public education system in this country is a mess and that if all the money now being spent on education isn't improving the product, especially for the poor, whom Democrats are supposed to be championing, more money will not help. Competition through school choice would improve education. The speech was another sop to teachers' unions that care more about their members than students' futures.
INNOVATION: Government doesn't innovate. It regulates. It taxes. According to The Cato Institute (www.cato.org/), the average combined federal and state corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 40 percent, first among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Japan comes in second with a combined rate of 35.7 percent. In his speech, the president said he supports reducing the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years, but then came the caveat: "without adding to our deficit." Cutting taxes without reducing spending will add to the deficit and so the president can eschew responsibility when Democrats refuse to vote for business tax reductions.
DEFICIT REDUCTION: Where to begin? A president and until recently an all-Democratic Congress has put our financial house in jeopardy by running up a $14 trillion debt. In March 2006, when he was a senator, Obama called the $8.27 trillion debt ceiling "a sign of leadership failure." If the debt ceiling during the George W. Bush presidency was a sign of failed leadership, who's failing in his leadership when the debt has climbed to $14 trillion? Deficit reduction will come when the government cuts (not caps) spending.
REFORMING GOVERNMENT: The best way to "reform" government is to reduce unneeded and unnecessary programs and agencies. Congress should establish a commission similar to the successful Base Realignment and Closing Commission (BRAC), which shuttered outmoded military bases. Every government agency and program should be required to justify its existence consistent with its cost and benefit to the greatest number of Americans. If they can't, they should be eliminated.
INFRASTRUCTURE: From better roads to high-speed inter- and intra-city trains, the U.S. lags behind many European and Asian countries in providing low-cost, efficient and fast transportation for its citizens. It is one of the few areas where Americans would be willing to pay more in fares or even taxes to improve the way we move around.
Included in infrastructure ought to be the mining of America's considerable natural gas supply and a "to the moon" emphasis on nuclear power and drilling for more oil in America's backyard to ease our dependence on foreign oil. It will take years to break our foreign oil addiction and so new sources of petroleum on American territory must be explored, something this president won't do.
Curiously, Obama invoked a space analogy, mentioning the Russian "Sputnik" satellite launched in 1957 and the American Apollo program that sent astronauts to the moon in 1969. And yet this president has effectively mothballed our space program at a time when China is moving rapidly forward with theirs.
The president's speech was all about new spending ("investment" he called it), no matter what he said about reducing the deficit. Spending on big government is what liberals do. No one should be fooled by the rhetoric, or the theatrics of congressional Republicans and Democrats sitting together. The Republican challenge is to stop the president's liberal agenda while making the case for a better one.
(Direct all MAIL for Cal Thomas to: Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207. Readers may also e-mail Cal Thomas at tmseditors@tribune.com.
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Comments
That title
Submitted by jon_torlin on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 5:45pm.
I see that title "What Lies beneath the SOTU" and I'm thinking "Lies? Pick one!"
And why just leave it at calling the Chairman a liberal when he's so much more and so much worse?
-Jon
"What Lies Beneath the Surface of Obama's State of the Union"
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 6:19pm.
Manure.
And lots of it, too.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
I see you've been reading at
Submitted by Wesley Mcgranor on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 8:00pm.
I see you've been reading at the JBS.org site?
channeling Ronald Reagan:
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 8:12pm.
channeling Ronald Reagan: cutting the deficit, hailing private enterprise and individual initiative, talking about the future. But for all his eloquence, the president wrapped his liberal ideology in conservative sheep's clothing.
Never, never forget: this president is a master at saying he is doing one thing, while simultaneously doing the opposite.
Remember his claim that he had no desire to take over GM?
Mr. Thomas has him nailed. He always says what focus groups tell him people want to hear, but his actions have said otherwise.
Why should anyone believe him now?
Obama's SOTU -- failing grade for a 5th grader's essay.
Submitted by acaiguana on Sat, 01/29/2011 - 9:10am.
1. Write an essay on the State of your Life in 200 words.
2. Never mention your life or any concept remotely connected with its 'state'
3. Receive a failing grade.
Here is the State of the Union.
Unemployment by government measures (which are incredibly wrong) is hovering around 9.5 percent. That means one in ten is out of work. In reality nearly two in ten are actually out of work.
A state that approaches the Great Depression.
Economic growth is stagnent (a term that means even with 2.5 percent growth, the economy is not growing at all; and in many segments is actually contracting.
A state that bodes ill for the unemployed. Hence, the favorite term 'jobless recovery' - a superficial lable that actually hides the reason for any 'recovery' being jobless.
A state of zero economic growth equals zero jobs.
New Federal regulations and rules have stifled economic risk takers and the major companies of the country are hoarding their cash reserves due to uncertainty in the area of 'fixed' costs. The fixed costs include health insurance, employee taxes, regulatory hurdles to their enterprises and the impossiblity to get government's permission to do nearly anything.
A state of intervention by the government in corporate America's fundamental reason for existence - profit making. If one cannot make a nickle on a dollar invested - why bother? Best keep the dollar and put it into a solid asset in defense of the inflation to come.
The printing of money (quantitative easing) by the truckload has scared everyone into 'things' rather than into productive activity. When a country starts buying solid assets that do not translate into productive efforts of many to provides goods and services to the greater economy; the economy stagnates (see above).
A state that self-perpetuates and hinges on the history of the Democrat Party ala Jimmie Carter.
What we have here America is a State of the Union that transcends Obama's platitudes of 'investing' and 'bending' the cost curve of Health Care.
Who in the world cares about the rising costs of health care when vegetables and other commodities such as corn and soy beans are going through the roof? Mostly due to rather inane and stupid government policies that see no direct benefit to consumers such as ethonol in gasoline.
When was the last time you drove out of your way to buy ethonolized gasoline? Or maybe the last time you even noticed the little sticker on the pump that proudly announces might contain 10 percent of ethonol?
A state of incrementalism that causes frogs to die whilst being boiled.
Don't get me started on the state of Education in the United States.
Thanks, State of the Union, I feel all better now.
ACA
...
Quoted from: 'Acaiguana notes from the Underground' (Soon to be at theaters near you)
aca---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sun, 01/30/2011 - 1:19am.
Nice one.
Platitudes, indeed.
MD