Well, I sat through my last Barack Obama State of the Union Address. Although I was in the room, you probably didn’t see me if you watched on TV, because I was in the back. Why? Well, the speech takes place in the House chamber, so the Senators get the seats up front, along with the President’s Cabinet, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a number of diplomats. The House Members sit behind them, first-come first-serve. In order to get a seat towards the front of the House Members, you have to get there hours before the speech starts. I prefer to stay in my office and get work done, read mail, return phone calls, etc., get to the chamber a little later, and sit in the back.
Except one time. Members of Congress have to arrive 6, 8, or even 10 hours ahead to sit next to the center aisle. That’s the aisle the President walks down when he enters the room and walks to the podium to give the speech. The cameras always focus on this, so you can pretty much count on being seen on the national (and local) news. I did it once, shortly after I’d been elected the first time. Bill Clinton was President. It wasn’t worth it.
Anyway, back to the substance of this week’s blog, which is pretty well reflected in the title, President Obama poisoning the well. The part of the speech which really got my attention, which made me say to myself “I can’t believe he’s saying this” was when he said “It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties have gotten worse instead of better.” AS IF HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!
This was the guy who had gotten elected making lofty claims that under him there would be no red America and no blue America, no black America and white America; people wouldn’t look at themselves as gay or straight, or immigrant or native born, or as Democrats or as Republicans; he’d make us all just think of ourselves as Americans. The truth is, he’s done just the opposite. He’s been the most partisan, the most divisive, the most vindictive President in recent history.
Barack Obama routinely calls those who differ with him on issues “un-American.” He acts like he is above politics, like he’s just seeking common ground, then proceeds to do everything within his power to destroy his political opposition. He’s nobly trying to save the nation; Republicans only care about getting rich, or getting re-elected.
It was particularly galling to hear Obama express feigned respect for how “our founders distributed power between three branches of government.” He’s shown utter contempt for that concept. If he doesn’t get his way with his co-equal legislative branch of government, he has his “pen and phone.” He’ll just act on his own, whether the Constitution allows it or not. Executive actions on immigration, on Obamacare, on guns, on weakening welfare work requirements. And who’s going to stop him, since he knows Harry Reid has his back in the Senate, and will prevent any pushback there from getting the necessary 60 votes. (There are only 55 Senate Republicans.) Respect for the Constitution and respect for American traditions have kept previous presidents from acting in this dangerous manner, but not this president. Remember, he told us in advance that he would “transform” America, not preserve it, or respect it. And transform it he has.
He’ll tell you he ended the recession, and brought down unemployment. But all recessions eventually end, and this one ended (if it indeed has), I would argue not because of his policies, but despite them. And it’s been the slowest economic recovery we’ve seen at least since WWII, and maybe in American history. And as for unemployment coming down, that’s at least partly due to so many Americans who have gotten so discouraged with finding a job, that they aren’t even looking anymore, and so aren’t counted in the unemployment numbers. In fact, we have the lowest labor participation rate that we’ve seen in nearly 40 years.
In fact, it’s his fellow Democratic Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who complain the loudest about how things are for the middle class in America. They’re being ripped off by “the banks” and the top 1%, and the government has to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour or we’ll all starve, and “black lives matter.” Who the hell do they think has been President for the last seven years?
And on foreign affairs, President Obama had the audacity to suggest that he was doing a bang-up job on everything from Syria to Iran to Russia to China. The reality is that from the rise of ISIS to the fall of Crimea, from the drawing of mythical red lines in Syria, to bragging about the success of Yemen shortly before its complete collapse, to the resurrection of the Taliban, to Chinese island building in international waters, to an even more dangerous and belligerent and unstable nuclear North Korea, to the continued release of dangerous terrorists from GITMO, to the humiliation of American sailors by Iran in front of the whole world, the foreign policy of Barack Hussein Obama has been more adrift and more feckless than any Administration in American history, with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter’s.
Thus, November 8th (Election Day this year) and January 20th, 2017, (exactly one year from today), when Barack Obama leaves office and a new president is sworn in, can’t come soon enough as far as I’m concerned. Hope the country can survive until then.