State of the Union Speech and all that!

The Republican Party's rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union Address was a theatrical tour de force that rivalled the orchestrated event in the House of Representatives just moments before. The massive volume and lengthy duration of canned applause in both venues were vaguely reminisscent of the recorded 1930's speeches at the Reichstag that we have all heard replayed over the years.


Michael Moore's pre-speech advice to President Obama was to "come-clean", admit mistates and change policies and orientation. Sadly, Obama praised his first year accomplishments. Obviously, politicians are unlikely to seriously and objectively critique ill-advised undertakings. President Obama's State of the Union Address, as those of several presidents in recent decades, had in showmanship what it lacked in subtance. Interestingly, Obama postponed a White House reception for the Dali Lama until after the speech, in deference to China's objections to the provocative undertaking.

The address was delivered on January 27, 2010. I started to write about the speech on January 31, but put it aside when I became distracted by other pursuits. Now, in mid-September 2010, I am picking up where I left off. No student of political affairs takes the State of the Union Address seriously. For the approximately 535 members of Congresin attendance, it is a charde and spoof, a joke on the American people. When I listened to the address, the notion of a dog-and-pony show came to mind. I started to hum the music of my grammar school graduation. I imagined a gala-event at the Met. It is a rare event when all the suspects of current crimes against humanity are viewed en mass, when the Supreme Court shows itself as united and civil, Senators and Representatives act as baffons, while standing at the podium is the Caesar that Gaius Julius could only imagine. Obama is a spellbinder and could hold his own with the smoothish huckster! And his address is mostly wishful thinking and spin. With that said, I will assume that Barack Obama believes what he says. However, he contradicts himself on most every stated position. On controversial issues he splits the differences between the factions and supports watered down compromises. He has a well-earned reputation as a "flip-flopper". To the crux of the matter, I do not believe him. And noone believes he earned the Nobel Peace Prize, as I have stated in earlier writings. He should have declined until such time as he might rightfully claim it. It is extremely important to note that although Obama donated the prize money to various organizations, peace groups were not included! I suggest to the man of peace, that donating to peace groups with Nobel Peace Prize money would have been respectful and pragmatic! He had placed himself in an untenable situation in accepting the award, and donating to peace organizations would generate conflict among Republicans! And Obama avoids conflict at any cost
Shortly into the address Obama makes this surprising assessment: "...that if we did not act (economic collapse), we might face a second depression (the first I assume was that of the 1930s). So we acted--immediately and aggressively. And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed." He then explains that the "devastation remains"; and he expounds on the many persistant economic problems that are still with us

According to Obama, the American people share common aspirations. And with that, "They share a stubborn resilience in the face of adversity. After one of the most difficult years in our history, they remain busy building cars and teaching kids, starting businesses and going back to school. They're coaching Little League and helping their neighbors. One woman wrote me to say, "We are strained but hopeful, struggling but encouraged." Obama's rhetoric certainly draws on the gospel of the power of positive thinking. But, do these resilient people have a place to live, and can they afford the food to feed themselves? He seems to be talking about a suburban oasis of prosperity and normalcy. How many inner-city children play Little League baseball? I believe the high school drop-out rate is increasing. The number of underemployed, those that have given up looking for employment and the unemployed still looking for work, is far higher than Obama is willing to admit.

To justify his Wall Street bailout, "...when I ran for President, I promised I wouldn't just do what was popular--I would do what was necessary. And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today. More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost." This is out of the Alice In Wonderland rabbit hole! Need I tell Oama that eleven million homes are under foreclosure proceedings, and the number is increasing everyday, that banks and other businesses are closing at a murderous rate? And the mega-banks that created the collapse are currently making record profits and continuing to provide multi-million-dollar bonuses--while sitting on their reserves. They are not lending! And the collapse-crafters fill key economic postions in the Obama administration!

Obama praises his stimulus bill: "The plan that made all this possible, from the tax cuts to the jobs, is the Recovery Act...also known as the stimulus bill. Economists on the left and right say this bill has helped save jobs and avert disaster." There is more to the story--the failure of nerve. In dollar amount, Obama reduced the stimulus to a mere gester. The money allocated should have been two or three times what he finally settled on. There seems to be a majority opinion among non-ideologue economists that the stimulus package was too small to make significant improvements, that Obama would be admitting failure in going back to Congress for a second go-round. Such a request would be dead-on-arrival in Congress, anyway.

It is difficult to nail Obama on his outlandish optimism because he usually follows with qualifications: "But, I realize that for every success story, there are other stores...."

Obama proposes things that he knows will die in the Senate, won't even get out of committee. "...and that's why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight." Again, "So tonight, I'm proposing that we take the $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat." Obviously, even if passed, the gester is too little-too late! Hundreds of small banks and countless businesses have already gone away! What kind of jobs will be created--Burger King and Jack In The Box minimum wage jobs?

I sense cynicism and detachment in Obama's address. His oratory is so perfect that it creates a felling of skepticism. I sense an absence of warmth and sincerity. There is an element of disbelief. For example, "...we've broken through the stalemate between left and right by launching a national competition to improve our schools...Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success...." He refers to his Race-To-The-Top program and teachers elvauated by student test scores. Inner-city and rural schools will be further disadvantaged by an increasing unlevel playing field. The notion that school districts compete against each other for federal funding is contrary to the egalitarian premise of public eduation. Sadly, capitalists like to compete. And capitalists are great fanciers of charter schools, and they collect substantial amounts of federal money to run them. But, I digress.