United Liberty

Was anyone else completely underwhelmed by President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last night? Most of what the president said were proposals we’d heard before, and I gather that most Americans watching feel the same way. There just wasn’t much there.

Before we jump into the negatives of the address, let me mention the one positive from last night. That was the president’s call for an end to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which would allow Americans that happen to be gay the ability to serve openly in the military. Also, his pledge to remove combat troops from Iraq by the end of August is promising, though I have my doubts that he’ll actually get it done.

While the President tried to be defiant, the substance of his address was weak. He is suffering from over-exposure. It was the same old song and dance. He blamed his predecessor for most of his problems but toward the end of the address he said, “I am not interested in re-litigating the past.”

While some blame does rest with George W. Bush, Obama has done little to nothing to change course. He has essentially stayed on the same path, and Bush was no free marketer.

It struck me as odd that the president would call for the passage of cap-and-trade last night (referred to as the “climate bill”), which is considered by nearly every pundit to be dead. The votes aren’t there and Americans are opposed to it. That was little more than wasted breath.

At times last night, I wanted another Joe Wilson moment, someone to stand up and tell the president that he was outright lying to the American people. The first came when talking about the Citizens United decision, which struck down part of campaign finance law.

Obama said:

Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.

Well, this is flatly false, as Justice Samuel Alito said to himself while shaking his head. As Bradley Smith, former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, points out this morning, law preventing foreign corporations from contributing to campaigns or participating in electioneering was not effected by the decision and still stands. This was populist pandering at its worst.

Obama also repeated the line that his health “reform” would deduce the deficit. While it’s true that the Congressional Budget Office did point to some savings, they also put a caveat on that noting that any deficit reduction is “subject to substantial uncertainity” because it is in the nature of Congress to amend previously passed legislation to prevent cuts in Medicare or other health care programs.

He also repeated a previously used line about the effects of ObamaCare on Americans health care. Obama said, “Our approach would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their and their plan.”

This isn’t not accurate. The administration’s proposal requires that all Americans have health insurance that meets minimum standards. You may be able to keep your coverage, if it meets those standards. Otherwise, you must have a government approved health insurance plan or face a fine levied by the IRS (and jail time if don’t pay the fine).

Obama spent some time talking about jobs and made a push for a second stimulus bill. This to be leaving many taxpayers scratching their heads. After all, wasn’t the $862 billion “stimulus” supposed to be a jobs bill?

Calls for transparency by the president were hypocritical. Obama, who has tried to portray himself as a reformer, colluded with Democratic leaders in Congress to keep health care negotiations off of C-SPAN (despite the network’s plea for transparency in the process) going back on an often repeated campaign promise.

Don’t expect much of a bounce for Democrats or Obama after last night’s speech. He fell far short of offering anything that American hadn’t already heard and rejected.