Listening to President Obama’s speech last night, I couldn’t help but feel pretty disappointed. He talked a good game about American Exceptionalism, but I can’t help but think it’s because he had do. He enters 2012 in pretty bad shape for an incumbent, especially one who seemed to enter Washington for his Inauguration on a bed of palm branches.
He said he is willing to work with anyone who puts forward proposals on tax reform and entitlement reform. Would that it were so. True REFORM will require drastic changes in terms of promises made to our people and in how these programs are structured. A committed liberal like Obama could not stomach true entitlement reform because it would threaten the Democrats’ empire built on dependency and envy.
Speaking of envy, how about his tax “reform” proposals? The President demanded everyone pay their “fair share” so that the government could get the money it needs. The obvious problem with such a statement is who decides what a fair share is, and what keeps the government from constantly adjusting that share up? Out of fairness, of course. If only it were easy enough to solve our debt and fiscal crisis by just grabbing more money from workers and entrepreneurs. President Obama and anyone else who is serious knows that we cannot tax our way out of our predicament. Even if the government took all of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ money and that of all America’s wealthiest citizens, we wouldn’t even be able to pay ONE YEAR of our deficit. Washington is spending too much, and the last thing the fire needs is more fuel. It needs a hose.
The President also said he will support repealing any regulations that are overly burdensome, costly, or unworkable. I can work with that! Speaker Boehner should call up repeal votes of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank today to get the ball rolling on that front. If the President is serious, of course. But he is not. This speech was the kickoff his reelection campaign, and one that will pit American against American. Gone are the days of “change we can believe in.” It is now all about the survival of the Obama regime by any means necessary. Who knew the politics of fear could be so much fun, Obama must wonder to himself.
One ray of hope (?) was the President’s call for more domestic energy production. This of course should be totally unbelieveable in light of his recent sacking of the Keystone XL pipeline and it’s 20,000+ jobs. Shovel ready for me, but not for thee, right? Republicans should do everything they can to force the Democrats’ hand on these measures and should make sure America knows just who is preventing the country from becoming an independent energy producer.
All in all there was nothing surprising about Obama’s speech. I believe my favorite part was that this was his last State of the Union speech. So I pray.
Governor Daniels definitely impressed me and just about everyone I’ve heard from with his response to the President’s speech last night. He pulled no punches yet still kept things above the belt. Right on, Mitch. Right on.
Some friends and I sacrificed sleeping in on Saturday morning and left DC for the suburbs in VA to join Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney, and Jeb Bush for the inaugural town hall event for the council. It was held at Pietanza, a local pizza shop. The owners were vocal participants and got the conversation started on the economy and what can be done to get credit flowing again. Among their concerns were the way the Obama administration is changing the rules abruptly and the threat of card check in the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” that would put their shop at risk at being unionized without a free and fair election.
Governor Romney was excellent and really stood out, leading me to think he is far from done politically. His knowledge of the economy is unquestioned and he just exudes competence. Governor Bush also didn’t disappoint and was very willing to say where the Party went wrong and offered some ideas of his own for the economy, college affordability, and encouraged the Party and voters to not be stuck in the past but to embrace and seize the moment as well as the future. Romney had it right when he said we are in a good situation now that we don’t have the White House forcing us into a top-down approach. Being out of power will force us to listen to the grassroots and those that really want to innovate and take the Party to the next level. Read the rest of this entry »
When Arlen Specter bolted the Republican Party last week I was surprised at how angry I was even though I wasn’t shocked by our senior senator’s latest antics. Nor was I surprised at the near instant recriminations against the conservative base of the Party. We were blamed for not accepting Specter, for not tolerating a “moderate” in our presence. Never mind that former Senator Rick Santorum put his own seat on the line in 2004 to circle the wagons for Specter in the primary, and that President Bush used the prestige of the office on his behalf as well. And the Republican electorate? They largely swallowed the bitter pill yet again and helped him win in the general. Yes, that sounds like a Republican Party that left Specter for dead. Read the rest of this entry »
If you caught any of the Obama town hall/revival service, you likely saw Julio, who said he’s a community college student and employee of McDonald’s going on 4 years. He wanted to know if Obama would push for people who’ve worked somewhere for that long to be guaranteed better benefits then they currently get. I kid you not. Is this a grab-bag or what?
The experience also topped the last time Julio felt this good, as he explains:
Support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress has fallen again this week. For the first time, a plurality of voters nationwide oppose the $800-billion-plus plan.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% favor the legislation, 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure. Read the rest of this entry »
On Monday, Robert Gibbs held firm that President Obama still believed Tom Daschle was the man to fix healthcare and lead HHS, despite not having paid $130,000 in taxes…..
…but today, Daschle was no longer the best man to lead efforts on healthcare reform and the rest of Obama’s agenda because he couldn’t live up the the high ethical standards that Obama put into place (unlike Timothy Geithner at Treasury…)
Change is not just a slogan, right Barack? Yeah, right.
After a day of back-and-forth arguments in the media and a CYA press conference last night, Daschle withdrew as Obama’s HHS nominee. It happened about an hour after Obama’s nominee for Chief Performance Officer (HA!), Nancy Killefer had to also withdraw because of a tax and unpaid labor issue. Obama had said to the end that he stood by him, but I don’t see how this could have ended any other way.
It was one thing when Geithner got away with not paying $40,000 in taxes despite being the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, employed by the IMF, and nominated to oversee some random government agency called the IRS. There’s no way Obama could survive unscathed with getting a former Senate majority leader into his post despite not paying $130,000 in taxes. No matter who he is or what party that’s just not acceptable. Obama’s own application form for White House employment at much lower salaries would disqualify you with evan half the tax debt. Read the rest of this entry »
In yet another amazing game, the Pittsburgh Steelers dominated early and came back from a 3 point deficit with a touchdown with 35 seconds on the clock, to win Super Bowl XLIII over the Cardinals, 27-23. Big Ben was CLUTCH and had what seemed to be his 50th game-saving drive in the biggest game of his career to date. And Mike Tomlin- the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl, at 36. So Pittsburgh has the youngest QB and youngest coach to win the big game.
The Pittsburgh Steelers now have the most Super Bowl wins in the NFL and are arguably one of the best, if not THE best franchises in professional sports. Now it’s on to Pittsburgh for the victory parade!
Posted by bitterclingers 
In yet another
Bitter Clingers 