Barack Obama’s second last State of the Union Address was given only a week ago, but it’s already taken its place, deservedly, on the ash heap of history. It’s about as relevant to the direction of our country as the items you put into your recycling bin this past week (assuming you live in one of the communities in the First Congressional District of Ohio that uses recycling bins.)
On domestic issues, the speech was bad. On foreign affairs, it was worse.
First, domestic issues. According to our Great Leader, the economy’s great, and it’s all because of him. In fact, the current recovery (assuming there actually is one) has been incredibly slow, and is the weakest recovery after a recession in U.S. history. There are a record number of Americans living in poverty, and a record number on food stamps.
Barack Obama tried to take credit for the recent fall in prices at the gas pump. However, he and his liberal allies have bitterly fought the very things most responsible for the current increase in oil production, such as fracking. Obama and his knee-jerk radical environmental bureaucracy has cut back on drilling on federal properties. The increase in energy production has been on state and private properties. And Obama continues to block a no-brainer like the Keystone pipeline.
Our education President has also decided that community colleges should be free. You think college is expensive now, wait until it’s free! (You could say the same thing about “free” health care.) We already have an $18 trillion debt hanging over our heads, so we just can’t afford this unrealistic proposal.
Oh yeah, and it’s time to raise taxes. Not on you, of course; on “rich” people, who allegedly aren’t paying their fair share. Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that guy behind the tree. The truth is, when taxes are raised, even on “other people”, we all end up footing the bill. It ultimately gets passed on to us consumers, in one form or another.
Now, foreign affairs. According to our Commander-in-Chief, “the shadow of crisis has passed.” What world is he looking at? That very day operatives of our principal nemesis, Iran, had overthrown the government of Yemen, a U.S. ally.
ISIS still controls much of Iraq and Syria, with accompanying head loppings, and the systematic extermination of Christian and moderate Muslims. These monsters now control such cities in Iraq as Fallujah, Ramadi, and Mosul, which had been liberated from the terrorists at so high a cost by U.S. Marines. President Obama squandered the sacrifices made by so many U.S. and Iraqi heroes, by foolishly withdrawing all American troops, despite warnings. HE knew better. Now we’re paying the price.
Obama’s amateurish handling of Vladimir Putin has been even more naive than George W. Bush’s (who famously looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul – assuming he actually has one). Early in his presidency, Obama caved in to Putin’s prodding, and stabbed our allies, Poland and the Czech Republic, in the back by canceling our commitment to locate American anti-missile facilities in these two countries. Putin had taken the measure of Barack Obama, and routinely pushed him around, the ultimate outrage being the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of much of eastern Ukraine. In response, the U.S. and our timid European allies have done virtually nothing.
And even though our compassionate President has roots in Africa (Kenya to be exact) he has shown little stomach for standing up to Islamic terrorism on that continent. Boko Haram (the miscreants who kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of innocent school girls) recently massacred 2,000 innocent people, and hardly a peep from the Obama Administration. After all, “the shadow of crisis has passed.” Indeed.
In the final analysis, it’s not likely that much, if anything, that President Obama said in this year’s State of the Union, will be long remembered. On the domestic stuff, we don’t have the money. And on the foreign policy stuff, he’s lost virtually all credibility, both inside and outside the United States.
But what a missed opportunity. He could have extended an olive branch to the elected representatives of the American people. Offered to work together on some things where there actually is common ground. But that wouldn’t be his style. He was haughty, and uncompromising; arrogant and unrealistic. It’s my way, or the highway.
What a shame.
