Obama and the State of the Union

Right From the Start

Earlier this week Investor’s Business Daily’s two-time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, Michael Ramirez produced yet another “sharp elbows” rendering of President Barack Obama and his undying fascination with replicating the failures of other countries. It is a satirical depiction of Pres. Obama at the lectern delivering his State of the Union speech but it focuses not on what the President says but what he does.

Surrounding the image of Pres. Obama are the following notations:

“We need a green economy like the one that ruined Spain.

“We need a government large enough to solve all of our problems like the one that ruined the Soviet Union.

“We need to create a hostile business environment like the one that ruined California.

“Let’s develop an unprofitable national infrastructure plan like the one that ruined Japan.

“Let’s create a huge national debt like the one that ruined Greece.

“Let’s socialize our healthcare system like the one that ruined England.”

I convey this for two reasons: First, it is highly unlikely that you will see such an opinion in The Oregonian, or for that matter the other major Oregon papers in Salem, Eugene, Bend and Medford. And second, it is an exacting counterpoint to the feigned centrist speech that Pres. Obama delivered for the State of the Union.

Pres. Obama is a gifted orator – much like trial lawyers and Bible-thumping revivalists. And like many of them, it is the style of the message more than the content that invigorates Obama. (For those of you forced to endure a Portland public school education, that is a polite way of saying he doesn’t necessarily believe what he is saying.)

For instance, after detailing all of the new programs and increased spending that he proposes, Obama had the temerity to state:

“But now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a government that does the same.”

These are words remarkably close to the promises of candidate Obama in 2008 and newly elected Obama in April of 2009. They were uttered mere months before Obama entered into a spending spree that has nearly tripled the national debt. He didn’t believe in fiscal conservatism then and he doesn’t believe in it now. You simply cannot announce a plethora of new programs, expanded spending on education and infrastructure (particularly non-productive infrastructure) and believe that you are going to live within your means. Truly, if your existing budget already exceeds your revenue by $2 Trillion dollars, how in God’s name can you believe you can add to that and “live within your means”?

The fact of the matter is that the federal government cannot “live within its means” unless it is prepared to address the spending on so-called “entitlement programs” – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other welfare programs. And Pres. Obama flat out rejected any reform of Social Security and has declared his undying fealty to Obamacare that adds yet another “entitlement.”

But these are just words. They are said to appease the electorate with absolutely no intention of actually pursuing these “commitments.” There is no more truth to these words than the words Obama uttered to Pope Benedict when he promised to minimize abortions in America while at the same time signing an executive order removing the prohibition of providing abortions at military medical facilities.

There is no more truth to these words than when the President declared that Obamacare would reduce the costs of healthcare in America even though he knew full well that the “budget projections” upon which he made this claim were bogus and that, in fact, Obamacare would increase the cost of healthcare by adding more freeloaders to a system already burdened by the 1993 federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. (An act that has been abused by advocates for illegal immigrants to obtain free primary healthcare by directing them to emergency rooms rather than clinics.)

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the new Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee provided a more accurate view of Obamacare when he stated:

“And so when you take a look at all of this; when you strip out the double-counting and what I would call these gimmicks, the full 10-year cost of the bill has a $460 billion deficit. The second 10-year cost of this bill has a $1.4 trillion deficit.”

Everybody knows (well, with the exception of America’s far left liberals) that you cannot reduce the cost of something by adding to its cost. President Obama has been described as “brilliant” and so one is left to the conclusion that he either doesn’t believe what he is saying, or he really isn’t all that “brilliant.”

Pres. Obama’s State of the Union address is replete with examples of this disingenuousness. It is so bad that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) when asked for his reaction to Pres. Obama’s speech, noting the inconsistencies between his speech and his actions, said:

“It’s hard to take the president seriously.”

And continued:

“Now the president is promising more spending, which he calls investments, when the time is to cut spending in Washington. The president needs to tell the American people the truth. That its time for the federal government to do less.”

Look, I’m not calling the president a liar, but I am finding it difficult to find a word to do elsewise. Maybe, it can be found in the line from an old country song:

“Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes.”

Oregon Catalyst