Obama: One year ago, I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by a severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a government deeply in debt. Experts from across the political spectrum warned that if we did not act, we might face a second depression. So we acted, immediately and aggressively. And one year later, the worst of the storm has passed.
Analysis: Growth has been anemic. Last quarter's GDP numbers were adjusted downward twice. This quarter's 5.7% will not only be adjusted downward as well, but almost two-thirds of it came from a slowdown in liquidation of inventories, leaving an anemic 2.2% of actual growth. Hot Air. Unemployment numbers are up as well, and in fact have exceeded Obama's predicted 8%. John Lott
Obama: So I know the anxieties that are out there right now.
Analysis: No you don't. You grew up with a silver spoon shoved up your ass, and you are a community organizer that has never run anything, including a lemonade stand. You don't know the anxieties, nor do you care. It is all about your agenda because you are an ideolog.
Obama: They don't understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded, but hard work on Main Street isn't, or why Washington has been unable or unwilling to solve any of our problems.
Analysis: Yet, with the bail out that is exactly what you did, reward Wall Street by saving them from facing the consequences of their actions. Washington does not solve problems, it creates them. Government does not solve problems, independent self-reliant people do.
Obama: They're tired of the partisanship and the shouting and the pettiness. They know we can't afford it, not now.
Analysis: In other words, don't disagree, dissent will not be tolerated.
Obama: And tonight -- tonight, I'd like to talk about how together we can deliver on that promise.
Analysis: Obama is back in campaign mode, trying to play himself off as the great unifier, because it is apparent he is a polarizing president, and he thinks if he can convince us he is a unifier, the "messiah magic" will be recaptured. Gallup: Obama Most Polarizing President Ever/NewsMax
Obama: Our most urgent -- our most urgent task upon taking office was to shore up the same banks that helped cause this crisis. It was not easy to do. And if there's one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans -- and everybody in between -- it's that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it.
Analysis: The banks were a party of causing the crisis because of government intrusion in the industry. And you didn't hate it. You relished in the opportunity for the government to have more say over private banks.
Obama: And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today.
Analyis: Unemployment is more than double now over what it was during most of Bush's years.
Obama: So I supported the last administration's efforts to create the financial rescue program. And when we took that program over, we made it more transparent and more accountable.
Analysis: Transparent? Accountable? Obama doesn't know the meaning of those words. The Democrats have done all of their negotiations with each other behind closed doors, locking out the Republicans, and the American People. Sweetness and Light
Obama: To recover the rest, I've proposed a fee on the biggest banks.
Analysis: A bailout was given to the banks to ensure they begin to profit again, but now that they show a profit, Obama wants to punish them.
Obama: Now, I know Wall Street isn't keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.
Analysis: So, Wall Street can't award the best people in the hopes of retaining such talent, but big bonuses can be given to wayward Democrats in order to pay them off so that they will vote for a highly unpopular health care bill.
Obama: We cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses.
Analysis: No taxes were cut. Besides, 40% of the people don't pay taxes, so how do you cut their taxes? Tax Credits are not tax cuts, they are a redistribution to one class from another. Can you say class envy?
Obama: Now, because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed.
Analysis: Obama did not take into account the 7 million private jobs lost as his 2 million government jobs were put into place.
Obama: While we're at it, let's also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small-business investment and provide a tax incentive for all large businesses and all small businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.
Analysis: I'll believe it when I see it. I believe that statement to be an out and out lie.
Obama: We can't afford another so-called economic "expansion" like the one from last decade.
Analysis: Meaning that Obama is against economic growth. If you don't want economic expansion, Mr. Obama, then you are suggesting we become stagnant.
Obama: Now, one place to start is serious financial reform. Look, I'm not interested in punishing banks. I'm interested in protecting our economy. A strong, healthy financial market makes it possible for businesses to access credit and create new jobs. It channels the savings of families into investments that raise incomes. But that can only happen if we guard against the same recklessness that nearly brought down our entire economy.
Analysis: In other words, capitalism is outlawed, and the chances taken is being eliminated. To fight recklessness, Obama wishes to quell the entreprenurial spirit.
Obama: In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education.
Analysis: Right, hand everyone a degree so that there are too many and the degrees become worthless, and someone like my wife with five degrees can't find a job because there are too many people out there with the same degrees, or that she is over qualified for daring to seek and education.
Obama: And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential. When we renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will work with Congress to expand these reforms to all 50 states.
Analysis: Federal intrusion into the educational system is unconstitutional. I was against it when Bush presented his No Child Left Behind Act, and I am against such federal intrusion now.
Obama: I want to acknowledge our first lady, Michelle Obama, who this year is creating a national movement to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity and make kids healthier.
Analysis: So now Michelle Obama is MeMe Roth's protoge? Since when is it government's business on how a parent feeds their kids? Just because Hillary Clinton thinks it takes a village to raise a child, doesn't mean it is a good idea. When the village raises the kids, and pushes the parents aside, you wind up with a village idiot.
Obama: Here's what I ask Congress, though: Don't walk away from reform, not now, not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people. Let's get it done. Let's get it done. Now, even as health care reform would reduce our deficit, it's not enough to dig us out of a massive fiscal hole in which we find ourselves. It's a challenge that makes all others that much harder to solve and one that's been subject to a lot of political posturing.
Analysis: Whether you like it or not, they plan to shove government health care down your throat. The statement that health care reform would reduce our deficit is a lie. I still don't understand his math. If he creates a government model, adds bureacrats to run it, and the government begins getting involved in the insurance industry, it will cost money.
Obama: So let me start the discussion of government spending by setting the record straight. At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By -- by the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. All this was before I walked in the door.
Now... Now -- just stating the facts. Now, if we had taken office in ordinary times, I would have liked nothing more than to start bringing down the deficit. But we took office amid a crisis, and our efforts to prevent a second depression have added another $1 trillion to our national debt. That, too, is a fact.
Analysis: Okay, let me get this straight. He blamed Bush for the economic difficulties, and blamed Bush for leaving him with a deficit, then defends making Bush's pothole of a deficit into a mile wide crater - essentially saying that "Bush made me do it."
Obama: Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will not be affected, but all other discretionary government programs will.
Analysis: Isn't this the same strategy that Obama argued against a number of times during his presidential campaign?
Obama: From some on the right, I expect we'll hear a different argument, that if we just make fewer investments in our people, extend tax cuts, including those for the wealthier Americans, eliminate more regulations, maintain the status quo on health care, our deficits will go away. The problem is, that's what we did for eight years.
Analysis: Blame Bush syndrome again. He fails to recognize that during much of Bush's presidency the economy was prosperous, and the unemployment rate was under 5%. Obama promised his stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%, and now it is over 10% - and he is not willing to take any blame for it.
Obama: With all due deference to separation of powers, last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.
Analysis: It was not only bad form to attack the Supreme Court as he did, but the attack was a lie. Foreign corporations face many laws that do not allow them to spend on American campaigns. The Supreme Court decision did not open the floodgates to such activities. This was a straight out lie by Obama.
Obama: I'm also calling on Congress to continue down the path of earmark reform, Democrats and Republicans.
Analysis: Suddenly he is concerned about earmarks? He hasn't had a problem with the thousands of earmarks (a.k.a. Payoffs) in bills during his first year in office.
Obama: But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day.
Analysis: True statement, but Obama is giving lip service. This is an outrageous lie because he is a part of that "election day" mentality. The State of the Union speech itself sounded more like a campaign speech then anything else.
Obama: Washington may think that saying anything about the other side, no matter how false, no matter how malicious, is just part of the game. But it's precisely such politics that has stopped either party from helping the American people. Worse yet -- worse yet, it's sowing further division among our citizens, further distrust in our government.
Analysis: Obama is blaming Republicans for his failures. The problem, Obama, is within your own party. You could have passed your bills! You had the votes! But too many Democrats were saying no!
Obama: Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions.
Analysis: Saying no to socialism is exactly what the GOP should be doing. Part of serving the citizens is voting in a way that reflects what the citizens desire - and they have been clear about what they think of Obama's agenda - a resounding NO.
Obama: Now, even as we prosecute two wars, we're also confronting perhaps the greatest danger to the American people, the threat of nuclear weapons. I've embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons and seeks a world without them. To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades.
Analysis: Decreasing our nuclear weapons will not stop the enemy from building their own. Obama's kind of disarmament mentality was popular in France and Britain during the 1920s and 30s, and then when Germany arose the other nations were too weak to defend themselves. Do we really wish to weaken ourselves in such a manner?
Obama: We have gone from a bystander to a leader in the fight against climate change.
Analysis: It still amazes me that there are still people that believes in man-made global warming when all of the evidence of science points towards the fact that temperature changes on a global scale are natural phenomenon.
Obama: We're going to crack down on violations of equal pay laws, so that women get equal pay for an equal day's work.
Analysis: What century does this idiot live in? There are more women in the workforce than ever, and in truth, many of them are now leaving the workforce to pursue families. The pay is comperable, and the market is adjusting constantly to provide such changes. Obama seems to think it is still a hundred years ago.
Obama: And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system, to secure our borders, and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nations.
Analysis: Huge lie, and in complete contradiction to what he has been saying about immigration policies for the last decade.
Obama: The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates to silly arguments, big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away.
Analysis: Is Obama suggesting that government can tell the media what to say, or what they can't say?
Obama: We don't quit. I don't quit.
Analysis: This is an admittance that his first year was a failure, and he is saying that despite the failure, he won't quit trying to force upon us the policies he thinks is right for us, and the policies Americans are rejecting.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Transcript: Obama's first State of the Union speech - CNN
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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