SOTU

Like Mickey Kaus, I didn't watch the Obama Campaign PrimeTime Spectacular! State of the Union Address last night.

I just finished reading Obama’s State of the Union. Didn’t see it. Reactions: 1) Was it as boring to see as it was to read? Because it is really boring to read.

That last part is sure correct - unlike him, I wasn't able to force myself to even read the whole thing.

More of that Obama bipartisanship

Jim Geraghty is fond of pointing out that "all of President Obama's promises come with expiration dates. All of them." So, does everyone remember what President Obama said in his State of the Union address? About not "re-fighting the battles of the last two years" but "fix[iing] what needs fixing and ... mov[ing] forward"?

OK, this is not a promise, exactly, but how does this story fit?

Mr. Obama last year short-circuited messy confirmation battles for Dr. Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Craig Becker, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, by using recess appointments to put the men in place while the Senate was out of town. The appointments expire at the end of this year, and the president late on Wednesday renominated both men for a full term...

...knowing that neither one is confirmable, as each is radically outside of the American political mainstream, and cannot possibly gather enough votes to overcome the inevitable filibuster.

So, despite the fact that he just told us all, less than a week ago, that we shouldn't do it, I guess he's decided that re-fighting some of the battles of the last two years is OK. What this tells us, of course, is that when he says he doesn't want to "re-fight the battles of the last two years" he simply means that he doesn't want to re-fight the battles that he won. Those should be enshrined and untouched for all eternity. The battles that he lost, however - he's OK with re-fighting those suckers for as long as it takes...


This is pretty much the standard liberal and media (I know, redundant) definition of bipartisanship - both parties doing what the liberals want. It's SOP in Washington - "heads, I win, tails, we vote again."

"We need..."

Have I mentioned before how brilliant Michael Ramirez is? I think I have...

Yeah, that sums up the SOTU pretty well...

State of the Union

I did not watch the President deliver the State of the Union address last night, other than a couple of minutes late in the speech¹. But I did read the released version, before delivered, and tweeted some commentary before he started.

"Faster than flying, without the pat-down" - Why? Are bombs on crowded trains less dangerous than bombs on crowded planes?

"When we find ... unecessary burden ...we will fix them" would be more convincing from someone who hadn't championed Obamacare...

"new rules to prevent another financial crisis" like the last one, and promote the next one, which will be different...

"new health care law - let me be the first to say that anything can be improved" - to be first, you'd have had to say it long, long ago

"our government spends more than it takes in." - Duh. "That is not sustainable." Double Duh. There's that brilliance people talk about...

My initial overall impression of the speech? "We're gonna spend, spend, spend your money! Spend on inefficient green jobs! Spend on edjimacation! Spend, spend, spend! Punish the oil companies! Take more money from the rich! Spend, spend, spend! Oh yeah, we're going to cut the deficit, too, while we SPEND, SPEND, SPEND!"

It's safe to say that I wasn't impressed with the speech as written. There was some conservative-sounding rhetoric, some pretense to being concerned about doing the right thing, but someone who really got it, someone who was really ready to face what needs to be done wouldn't have spent so much time trying to spend so much more money on so many new things. Oh, I know he talked about "investment" but it's all just spending.



¹My impression of those minutes was, "what a dreary affair. What a mechanical speaker." Whatever it is about Obama the speechmaker that has people raving continues to escape me.

It's still early...

...but the congressional Republicans are on a roll right now, making good decisions and presenting them well...

Chairman Paul Ryan to Deliver Republican Response to SOTU:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) will deliver the Republican address following the President’s State of the Union address to Congress on January 25, 2011. Last year – in an unprecedented failure – Congressional Democrats chose not to pass, or even propose a budget, punting on a duty that represents the most basic responsibility of governing. Chairman Ryan will deliver the Republican address Tuesday night from the House Budget Committee hearing room, where the Democrats’ spending spree will end and the Republicans’ push for a fiscally responsible budget that cuts spending will begin.

In making the announcement, the GOP leaders noted that Chairman Ryan is a leading voice for fiscal discipline and common-sense solutions to cut spending and create jobs. Known for his thoughtful and detailed critiques of big-government policies, Ryan has helped put to rest the Democrats’ argument that more government spending and higher taxes is the answer to most of our nation’s ills. His commitment to free enterprise and limited government make him the right choice to outline a vision for how a smaller, less costly government will help create the right conditions for the creation of good, private sector jobs.

“Paul Ryan is uniquely qualified to address the state of our economy and the fiscal challenges that face our country,” said Speaker Boehner. “We’re broke, and decisive action is needed to help our economy get back to creating jobs and end the spending binge in Washington that threatens our children’s future. I’m pleased that Paul will be outlining a common-sense vision for moving our country forward.”

I am also pleased...

Instapundit was on fire last night

For a barrel of links and commentary on the State of the Union, check out this Instapundit post...

Petulance

I wasn't the only one, as these comments from the Corner show...

Mark Steyn:

...the petulance is all too obviously real...

Peter Robinson:

While offering up such stale, unimaginative policy proposals that liberals could only have moaned and gnashed their teeth, Obama adopted a tone of such petulance, peevishness and condescension that independents could only have recoiled.

Robinson again:

I forgot to add "petulant."

One word State of the Union review

Here is my one word summary of the speech.

Petulant

He sounded annoyed and irritated with his subjects fellow citizens. The attitude seemed to be, "don't you people appreciate all that I've done for you?"

I think he's been reading Joe Klein...

SotU reaction

1) More nuclear plants would be a good thing. I don't believe it will happen.

2) More fiscal responsibility would be a good thing. I don't believe it will happen.

3) It was a very unpleasant speech. The impression that I got was that we, the people, have disappointed our glorious leader. He seemed irritated with us

More tomorrow...