Reply to the State of the Union

With thirty million unemployed workers in America, President Obama in his speech gave little reassurance that relief is on the horizon. Over the past year, the Obama administration has pushed health care as the fix all for the economy. On the other hand, there were some bright spots in his speech last night. Overall, it appears that the President is still in campaign mode and pushing his agenda with a no holds barred attitude.

Feb 26, 2009 Charles Krauthammer wrote “The Obamaist Manifesto,” He laid out the three top priorities President Obama wanted to achieve on his watch, (1) "Obama wants to be to universal health care what Lyndon Johnson was to Medicare. (2) Beyond cradle-to-grave health care, Obama wants cradle-to-cubicle education. (3) Obama wants to be to green energy what John Kennedy was to the moon shot, its visionary and creator."

He gave us a sneak peek at his agenda with Joe the plumber. Candidate Obama said, "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

In the Washington Post the President stated, “But this recession is different. This recession was not caused by a normal downturn in the business cycle. It was caused by a perfect storm of irresponsibility and poor decision-making that stretched from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street.” In his speech last night he bashed the Bush administration for cutting taxes and causing the mess we are in. "The problem is, that's what we did for eight years. That's what helped lead us into this crisis. It's what helped lead to these deficits. And we cannot do it again."

Where did it start? In Jimmy Carter's State of the Union Address 1979 he stated, "No American family should be forced to choose among food, warmth, health care, or decent housing because the cost of any of these basic necessities has climbed out of reach." In other words people have a God given right to own a home. These started the government low-income loan program and with further deregulation, today are known as sub-prime loans. No President since has stopped the deregulation. Last year these loans blew up wrecking havoc on the worldwide economy.

President Obama said, "steps taken by the Administration over the past year have saved or created about 2 million jobs so far.” Robert Gibbs said, “saved or created 1.5-million jobs." Later on he said "[a]s of the fourth quarter of 2009, the (Act) has raised employment relative to what it otherwise would have been by 1 ½ to 2 million." and David Axelrod commented that they "created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs."

The Washington Examiner reported, "Give the mainstream news media some credit: They have diligently dug into President Obama's fanciful boasts of job creation. When Obama claimed earlier this month that his $787 billion economic stimulus package had "saved or created” 640,000 jobs, a dozen news organizations pounced. They soon highlighted some of the most egregious cases of sketchy job creation in about 20 states."

The president outlined job growth by tax cuts incentives and increasing exports but he wants to combine green jobs/cap and trade. Maybe they will cancel each other out and be job neutral. He justified health care as the fix all for the economy. Being that I am one of the thirty million unemployed, given the choice between a job and insurance, it’s a no brainer. With a good paying job, you get health care.

In the State of the Union Address, President Obama echoed Capital Hill's incompetence over the past year once again blaming the Bush administration. The Bureaucrats have wasted the past year on a socialist agenda rather than fixing their past mistakes.

The Washington Post reported in an interview with Diane Sawyer that President Obama said, “I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.” In other words “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.”

President Obama is hell-bent on pushing his own personal agenda at any cost even if it means one term in office. His legacy is his agenda. Last night he said, "I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan." Mr. President you are no John F. Kennedy and you could never be a Reagan conservative.

Bill Thresher; Wichita Kansas: Sighing out from the Heartland