Last nights State of the Union wasn’t bad. It wasn’t all that great, but it wasn’t horrible. I enjoyed it more than his speech a year ago because O, though in a precarious political position, was obviously far more comfortable with the people in the room this time around. Who wouldn’t be? In my own mind I’ve been killing him for his recent dip in composure, the Scott Brown election being his figurative breaking point. He was visibly upset, down, stressed, and uncertain; with the State of the Union coming up I thought he was a goner. You just have to be stronger than that; you can’t let the people see you wobble. I don’t hate the guy, so my unspoken advice was to pull it together and regain the strength in tone you had a year ago. He had to sound sure and confident last night. I think he did that to a good enough extent.
His talking points remained relatively the same as a year ago, surely after the past year you can push more issues. Did no new ones arise? How little time can one spend talking about foreign policy and national security, apparently very little. Is there not a trial coming up in NYC that is very unpopular? Oh its unpopular, that’s why it wasn’t mentioned. Is Guantanamo Bay really closing? Was that last year it was supposed to close… or this year? Did he put the spin on the Christmas attack attempt to make it seem like the only thing that’s come from it is better security screening at airports? How did this TERRORIST get rights and a lawyer that shut him up with the blink of an eye? Are we really just cutting out the interrogation thing all together?
Do we still blame the last administration at next year’s state of the union?
How do you push the bipartisan effort when clearly everyone around you tries to go it alone behind closed doors? I don’t lay all the blame on Obama for that. I blame Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. They thought they had the supermajority vote in the bag, they went ahead on healthcare without republican support or input… because they thought they didn’t need it. Surprise! You do. Those are O’s handlers, very experienced in congress, unlike O. I wonder who is coaching him. When a Kennedy seat of decades turns republican, you need to start coming towards the middle. That middle, those independents that got O and all the dems into office… is the same middle they are alienating. Why was and is Bill Clinton such a good politician? Because he moved from the left to the middle when times got rough, when you are far left or far right and shit hits the fan… the first people you are going to lose will be from the middle. You have to cater to them, unless you don’t care… or have a supermajority. No it’s not an election year for you O, but it is for your team. You being unwavering is obviously not making you a big help in keeping your people in office. You pulled for democrats in VA, NJ, and MA… multiple appearances in NJ and VA… a highly publicized visit to MA. They all lost to republicans. Guess what, you aren’t losing the republican support. You had it momentarily a year or two ago, you lost it, and it’s never coming back. What’s actively leaving you is the support of the democrats and independents. What to do. Well consider this: independents won the election for you.
Spending freeze. I don’t need the lip service. Here is my very own example: I drink 4 Guinness a night… you are worried about my alcohol intake so want me to promise I won’t drink anymore Guinness than I currently do. Freeze how much Guinness I consume. I agree, but before I agree I up my intake to 8 Guinness a night, no 7 Guinness a night (a 2 fold increase is just too much). Of course you don’t know about it… that’s because you don’t pay that much attention. So now we move ahead, my intake is frozen at 7, you are happy…because you think I won’t drink more than 4 Guinness a night. The precise thing you don’t want to happen already happened, is currently happening, and will continue to happen for the next three years. Don’t worry even if I want to drink less I won’t… because intake is frozen. Do you get it? Did I mention I drink Scotch and wine? We said nothing about that part though so it doesn’t count.
Bottom line – the best thing that can happen to this country and even O himself… Dems lose the majority in the senate, it won’t happen, but 52 to 48 is possible. And that easily checks the left because of the blue dogs that will vote with the republicans. It promotes the bipartisan effort, isn’t that what we are all preaching? Both sides need to work together and not try to push things through alone just because they can with a supermajority.
Prediction: Mid term elections bring an almost alarming number of republicans back into office. Everyone has already seen that partisan efforts fail, so move forward in Obama’s next two years cooperating just that tad bit more that makes progress. O’s approval rating recovers and who knows… a better shot at a second term.
COLDTONES 