SOTU 2011 Lesson: STAY INFORMED

Just finished watching the State of the Union Address and I have a few observations on it.

First, this speech provides a lesson to all of us: consistently follow the news, not just watching television news, but reading news on the Internet and in the paper! The setting and the material in the speech took those into account who only watch sporadic news and that was deceptive!

On setting...I'm not a fan of a "Date Night SOTU." In light of the Tucson shooting, they did not sit by party, "they mixed in." Colorado Senator Mark Udall proposed this mix under the umbrella of "civility," but the true meaning was to disperse the new majority to make it appear that more members of Congress are giving the president a standing ovation. Democrats did not want to see a majority sitting on their hands, hence this configuration, and the Republicans went along, and unfortunately accepted their false premise.

On the speech and substance...those who "watch" and don't "read" the news would have thought the President is moderating. The unfortunate thing about the speech is that in his own words, it was "just words, just speeches." While he was trying to talk the talk, he hasn't necessarily walked the walk in the past two years. In the speech, he called for a freeze in spending, yet it was this president who pushed through a budget busting stimulus bill that wasted $900 billion and a health care reform bill that will hamper the job creation this country so needs! In terms of the Health Care Bill, Obama further defended it, saying he'd "work with Republicans," but after the 2010 Health Care push, is that believable? He spoke of passing tax cuts, yet all he did was extend the Bush tax cuts. He spoke highly of the troops and their service in Iraq, attempting to take credit for their coming home, yet he expects Americans to forget about what he previously said about our troops, along with his thoughts on Iraq.

There were no clear solutions on how the government will assist private industry in the creation of jobs, a further "attached-at-the-hip" mentality with the environmental movement, no clear plan for stopping illegal aliens from coming into America and likely may support amnesty for the children of illegals. Despite his perceived moderation, Obama still has a strong adherence to his belief in a strong and over-reaching federal government. Between infrastructure improvements such as high speed rails, education reform (what seems like without accountability) government stepping in on R&D in industry and energy, makes one question where he is going to find the money he so wants to cut out of the budget. And it's not going to be cutting entitlements, as he did not address that.

On the bright side, the president spoke of tort reform and curbing governmental regulation. Time will tell if he leads on these issues and goes along with the Republicans, but in studying the past two years and using it as a record, I am not readily holding my breath. This is going to be quite a two years ahead of us!