State of the Union Address

                Did you watch or listen to the State of the Union address tonight?  I did not because I cannot stand to watch Barack Obama’s arrogance and I refuse to spend my time listening to a liar.  I do not respect the man who sits in the Oval Office at the present time.  Even though Mr. Obama “won” the last two presidential elections – as he so often reminds Americans – he lost the confidence of the majority of us long ago.

                Tonight Mr. Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address.  He spent much of his speech calling on Americans to show more civility in politics; then he taunted Republicans because he won his last two elections.  He gave two separate veto threats in his speech with one of them “covering everything from immigration to tweaking Obamacare to revamping the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms.”  He stated that the economy is improving and unemployment is falling.  He said it was time to “turn the page” on years of war and economic weakness and turn to investments.  He did not mention the radical Islamic terrorism that is sweeping the earth or his illegal amnesty program.  His talk was much the same as previous ones that called for higher taxes on the rich, more unfunded programs, and more debt.  He may not have said it in these words, but Mr. Obama basically said that he does not care about the message sent by voters in November and that he intends to continue doing exactly what he wants to do.

                Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), one of our brand new senators, gave the GOP response to the State of the Union.  She reminded Americans of the “failed policies” of Mr. Obama and said that the new Republican-controlled Congress “will focus on people’s concerns about jobs and health care.”  She called for bipartisan cooperation and for Mr. Obama to “cooperate with Republicans to simplify the tax code by lowering rates and eliminating unspecified loopholes….”

                Other Republicans gave responses to Mr. Obama’s State of the Union address.  I found some very interesting responses here. I listened carefully to the responses given by Representative Curt Clawson (R-Florida), Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Representative Louis Gohmert (R-Texas), and Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky).  From the various speeches I heard wonderful ideas:  (1) We should restore our nation to greatness by returning to personal liberty, free enterprise, and the opportunity to live the American dream.  (2) We need a strong America in order to strengthen the nations of the world.  (3) We should return to the rule of law.  (4) We should base our policies on economic liberty and equal opportunity for all, not equal outcomes.  (5) We should respect and listen to each other even when we do not agree with the other’s ideas.  (6) We need to become a team and work together by respecting, trusting, relying on, and caring for each other.  We are the same!  (7) We need to secure the borders before any amnesty program will work.  (8) We should change our tax to a flat tax where everyone pays a certain percentage:  those who make a lot of money would pay a lot of taxes and those who make little money would pay little taxes.  (9) We should stop the policies that reward the rich and hurt the poor.  (10) We should have term limits for Senators and Representatives just as we do for Presidents because we need new people going to Washington with new ideas and new ways of doing business.  (11) We need government to get out of the way and let Americans grow and develop.  (12) We need to stop the governmental gifts to Americans and destroy poverty instead of growing it.  (13) We need to amend the Constitution to have a Balanced Budget Amendment.  (14) We need to have the stronger military in the world – a lean, mean fighting machine.  (15) We need to audit the Pentagon to make sure the money is going to the military and not being wasted.  (16) We need to allow Americans to exercise compassion without forcing it.  (17) We need to return to our Founding Principles.

                Katrina Trinko of The Heritage Foundation put together a great political commentary by various Heritage experts on “What Obama Got Right and Wrong in the State of the Union.” The experts zeroed in on the following topics:  economy, energy, education, legal, health care, life and marriage, and foreign policy and national security.  She stated what he got right and then explained what he got wrong on each of them.  Her article includes charts, numbers and other facts.  The collection of statements with the following paragraphs by Helle Dale.

                “President Obama tonight displayed an almost touching faith in the power of quiet diplomacy to solve problems in a dangerous, complex world.  If only it were so well.  The president’s speech contained several references to diplomacy.  He described America as leading `with consistent and strong resolve.’  For most observers of Obama’s U.S. foreign policy, that description is almost unrecognizable.

                “Obama talked about smarter U.S. leadership and strong diplomacy, about not talking rash decisions, about war as the choice of last resort.  Rejecting the idea of sending troops into war zones like Iraq and Syria, he said he intends to `stand on that wisdom’ of not putting boots on the ground.  The president also said he considered climate change to be the greatest challenge and national security threat for future generations.  For those who follow the news from the Middle East and the unraveling of terrorist cells in Europe, climate change is an almost quaint choice.  The speech spent all of two paragraphs on terrorism and did not mention al-Qaeda.

                “If you believed Obama, ISIS is being pushed back, Russia is reeling, and Iran is being disarmed – all because of American leadership, coalition building and diplomacy.  Unfortunately, reality is almost the exact opposite.  The Obama administration insists on running U.S. foreign policy from the White House.  As a consequence, politics take primacy, rather than statecraft and national interest.  That was the case again in the president’s speech tonight.”

                Once again Barack Obama addressed the citizens of the United States of America.  He lied and withheld critical information – and generally said nothing of importance.  We have two more years of this fraud!  I hope America is still around when he leaves office!