Obama gives a speech we can’t take seriously
How do you take seriously a speech in which the president says we will spend more money on educating students, rebuilding our infrastructure and funding research for innovation in alternative energy sources — all while saying we’re not going to spend more money?
How do you take seriously a speech in which the only budgetary dollar figure the president gives is a made-up one — a reduction in spending (even as spending is frozen, remember) as compared only to hypothetical future budgets?
How do you take seriously a speech in which the president claims the mantle of fiscal restraint — while essentially bidding to make permanent the supposedly temporary, stimulus-inflated levels of spending we’ve seen the last two years?
How do you take seriously a speech in which the president says he will work more closely with Republicans — by making the same offers he has made, but not acted on, in previous speeches? (Examples: “If you have ideas about how to improve [the health-reform] law…I am eager to work with you,” and, “I’m willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits” [my emphasis, because he's admitting he didn't act on it when they proposed it before].)
How do you take seriously a speech in which the president acknowledges that his own fiscal-reform commission said “the only way to tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it” — and then essentially rules out cutting spending in entitlements?
Given all this, how do you take seriously those parts of the speech that did offer pleasant surprises — his calls to flatten and lower corporate income-tax rates, to simplify individual income taxes (note that he didn’t offer to simplify and then lower rates), to merge and consolidate duplicative federal agencies, and to veto any bill with earmarks?
Seriously — how?
The next two years are going to be even harder than I thought.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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169 comments Add your comment
sub
January 26th, 2011
11:07 am
no one with a brain takes obama seriously. that’s why he has the support of unsophisticated members of the liberal voting block. he’s just a narcissistic windbag that reads well from a script, and the idiots in this country follow him like a messiah. pathetic, and disturbing…..
M. Miles
January 26th, 2011
11:08 am
View following . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B3O9uUc-4&feature=related
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/69618219/Grand-Jury-Report—-Philly-Abortionist-Kermit-B-Gosnell-Multiple-Counts-of-Murder-(January-2011)
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/obama-voted-to-protect-abortionists-like-house-of-horrors-gosnell/
EJM
January 26th, 2011
11:13 am
Obama offered more rehetorical fluff with zero substance (or funding).
And why not?
It’s the same flim-flam that got him elected in 2008.
Only now after failed “stimulus”, 9.4% unemployment , and a huge expansion
of Medicaid in Obamacare, we are trillions more in debt and the water has
reached several more decks of the Titanic. Do we all have to be underwater before
people wake up? Obama sure thinks so.
Will America be fooled again?
Good Grief
January 26th, 2011
11:14 am
So one “overwhelming support” for one speech by Obama is a wake up call for Republicans? What kind of liberal fantasy land do you live in?
DannyX
January 26th, 2011
11:18 am
Liberal fantasy? More like the President Clinton playbook.
Mrs. Obvious
January 26th, 2011
11:20 am
M. Miles,
The Philadelphia Baby Killer was simply operating under the principles of the Holy Free Market. He did not need or accept government regulation of his private business, and instead made his own business decisions which patients were free to avail themselves for a fee, or not. Surely you are not advocating we keep “Obamacare,” regulate the medical profession and hire more, bigger gubmint officials to interfere with business and patients’ rights, are you?
Ken Besig
January 26th, 2011
11:29 am
This was a beautiful dissection of Obama, a dissembling and cynical Chicago politician, long on promises and woefully short on performance.
joe
January 26th, 2011
11:34 am
Look…to all you libs, yes, both sides of the aisle suck…but at least the GOP is for cutting govt to get us out of the 14 trillion hole we are in…I don’t hear any libs suggesting the same…esp. Barry the magnificent. Last night he just stood there with the same spend our way out of this economic mess, which hasn’t worked for him to date, by laying new high speed rail, high speed internet, etc. Puhhhlllleezeee. The only way out of this mess is to cut, cut more, then cut again til we can’t stand it anymore. We can afford to drive on pot hole-filled roads for a few years until we pay off what we owe so our kids and grandkids don’t have this mess staring them in the face 50 years from now.
pn
January 26th, 2011
11:39 am
I have a brain and I take Obama very seriously. He is the smartest, most pragmatic and most forward-looking president since Roosevelt. But since he is of mixed race, he is an automatic threat to a segment of the population mainly composed of older white males and their subservient spouses, who take irrational offense at anything he says or does. I hope he succeeds in his plan to reinvigorate and restore our leadership in manufacturing, research and development, infrastructure and technology. China, India and the rest of Asia are already gaining ground at an astounding rate, because the U.S. has poured most of it’s energy and capital into wars and the military industrial complex. We have the largest defense budget on earth, but the rest of our economy falls further and further behind each day, while China and Asia’s economies are soaring. They are spending trillions on infrastructure, transportation alternatives, energy efficiency, space exploration, medical research, etc. while our country goes nowhere fast.
Karina
January 26th, 2011
11:46 am
Once again , promises and more promises , this speech had no substance just like the man himself.
It was a campaign speech at it’s best.
Sdawg
January 26th, 2011
11:47 am
Seriously, when Pres O said that he was freezing spending at current rates the statement is laughable. He increased across the board spending by more than 20% in his first year in office…….how about across the board, freezing spending at pre-Obama levels, for starters?
Jefferson
January 26th, 2011
11:50 am
If you frown all day, you will have more wrinkles in your old age.
retiredds
January 26th, 2011
11:56 am
In August, before the Bush-era tax rates were extended, the CBO estimated the fiscal 2011 budget deficit would be $1.07 trillion.
Now the CBO estimates the 2011 deficit to be $1.48 TRILLION. Ah, yes, those Republican fiscal conservatives at it again.
answer4everything
January 26th, 2011
12:01 pm
To John @ 8:51 am:
I suspect Bachman knows how the amendment process works better than you. Constitutional amendments are proposed in congress and if, after recieving a 2/3s favorable vote go to the president to be signed or vetoed. Once the president signs it it then goes to the individual states for ratification. The states then have a time limit (I forget how many years) to ratify said amendment. Each state legislature must approve by a 2/3s majority and 2/3s of the states must ratify within said time limit. So yeah, I’d say the prez has a little something to do with amending the Constitution.
Gman
January 26th, 2011
12:02 pm
Uneducated, short-attention spanned, short-sighted, rednecks vote Republican in the great state of Georgia!
John
January 26th, 2011
12:03 pm
@retiredds
Don’t you realize by now, CBO estimates are wrong. They have to rely on the information they are giving including bad assupmtions like the Democrats assumption that tax cuts add to the deficit and have to be paid for. Republicans got it right…tax cuts don’t add to the deficit; therefore, they don’t have to be paid for.
DannyX
January 26th, 2011
12:04 pm
Joe who are all these libs you speak of? When it comes right down to it the American people don’t want much cutting done. When you get to specifics it seems the opposite is true. A new poll out by Gallup today shows it perfectly,
Asked about specifics, American majorities OPPOSE spending cuts for…
Arts funding…52%
Farm subsidies…53%
Homeland Security…56%
Anti-Poverty…55%
Defense…57%
SS…64%
Medicare…61%
Education…67%
As you can see most Americans really don’t want the programs that have the most affect on the budget touched, Defense, SS, and Medicare.
Of course most Americans don’t want their taxes increased either.
John
January 26th, 2011
12:15 pm
@answer4everything
The president has no part in amending the Constitution….It does not go to the president to sign or veto. The president is completely out of the process.It amazes me how a self-proclaimed Constitutionalist, having classes with Congressmen on the Constitution, calling for Constitutional amendments and doesn’t even know how it’s amended. The amendment process is spelled out in Articl V of the Constitution. You can look it up; better yet, I have it below. Read it and then get back to us on the role the president has in amending the Constitution.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
@@
January 26th, 2011
12:17 pm
Kyle:
Obama was in over his head from day one. He hasn’t yet heard what Americans are saying. Stimulating government is not in our plans for the future.
With last night’s talk of “investments” it appears as though he wants to hold our heads under “his water”. The Republicans BETTER come thru on their promises to cut spending…not just the small stuff. They darn well better DO BIG THINGS or all our efforts to rein in Obama and the dems were for naught.
Gears and Springs » State of the Union
January 26th, 2011
12:20 pm
[...] Obama gives a speech we can’t take seriously The next two years are going to be even harder than I thought. [...]
John
January 26th, 2011
12:20 pm
@answer4everything
What the president signs or vetos are something called laws which has passed by majorities in both the House and the Senate. Constitutional amendments are different…totally different process than passing laws.
DannyX
January 26th, 2011
12:28 pm
From the AP today, “The latest figures are up from previous estimates because of bipartisan legislation passed in December that extended Bush-era tax cuts, unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and provided a 2 percent payroll tax cut this year.
That measure added almost $400 billion to this year’s deficit, CBO says.”
Kyle I know you accuse me of not reading your columns but I do remember the one in which you said the Republicans would detail how they would pay for all the damage their extra little goodies in the tax bill would be paid for. You said they would tell us later.
I think now would be the perfect time. It seems the Republicans are responsible for another hit and run on the deficit.
Tommy Maddox
January 26th, 2011
12:29 pm
Maybe they’ll use that proposed trolley line from Centennial Park to the King Center as an example for the necessity and modernization of the rail system.
Obama gives a speech we can’t take seriously | Kyle Wingfield « Opinion Letter
January 26th, 2011
12:33 pm
[...] Obama gives a speech we can’t take seriously | Kyle Wingfield. [...]
cpgrasshopper
January 26th, 2011
12:34 pm
As anticipated, enough specious sophistry to overfill the cow pasture. The next new expenditure from Congress, possibly via OSHA or the EPA, will be the mandated acquisition of hip boots for the populace … that we may safely wade through it all.
Peter
January 26th, 2011
12:35 pm
Republican would be happy with a Depression……..that is what will make them Happy.
MORE POOR People !
They will be happy with a 3rd WAR……cause that is what Republican’s like..Killing other folks in other countries.
Bush started all the bailouts because of his lousy governing, and 2 wars that our grand children will pay for….he never funded it, and he never won it.
Republican’s would be happy if the recession was a depression…then they could point fingers.
How is the stock market treating Republican’s lately ?
Reality Ck
January 26th, 2011
12:35 pm
Great post Kyle! Hammer meet head!
Intown
January 26th, 2011
12:35 pm
Good luck trying to pin Obama down on anything over the next two years. He’s gonna bob and weave and kick Republican butt all the way to a second term. And the Repubs have no particularly good presidential prospects right now. Yes, the next two years are going to be harder than you were imagining in your drunken exuberence on mid-term election night back in November.
JB
January 26th, 2011
12:44 pm
@ John 8:51 a.m.:
Didn’t see Bachmann’s speech. But IF that is what she said, it shows ignorance. But that stands in contrast to much of the Left who believe that, because the Founders believed the Constitution may need to be changed from time to time to fit circumstances and changes in the world unforeseen by the Founders in the 18th Century, that, therefore, it means the Constitution can be simply IGNORED or REWRITTEN without actually altering the text when it doesn’t fit the Left’s political goals. Just once I’d like to hear someone opposed to gun ownership propose a real constitutional amendment granting the government the power to prohibit gun ownership. Or, how about a constitutional amendment that specifically creates a “right to an abortion,” instead of inventing a “right to privacy” that, by a leap of logic, applies to a woman’s right to kill the baby inside her womb (which science clearly delineates, by all standards, is NOT part of the woman’s body.) Or, how about a constitutional amendment that specifically grants the federal government the power to force all citizens in the country to purchase health insurance, instead of twisting the law into pretzels to declare that since the government has the power to regulate commerce among the states, and has the power to tax, therefore, the government can do whatever the hell it pleases!
How about those constitutional amendments, John?
Ryan trumps Obama in SOTU response « HogWash Post
January 26th, 2011
12:48 pm
[...] Kyle Wingfield notes: How do you take seriously a speech in which the president says we will spend more money on [...]
jconservative
January 26th, 2011
12:49 pm
From Politico:
“…Republican freshman Sen. Rand Paul introduced legislation Tuesday that seeks to cut $500 billion from government spending in one year alone, wiping out three cabinet departments and the entire foreign aid budget while sparing neither the Pentagon nor 2011 war-related funding for overseas military operations.”
“Most controversial could be a proposed $16 billion reduction from the overseas contingency funds provided for the military for the current fiscal year.”
““War funding from 2001 to 2010 has cost the taxpayer $1.109 trillion,” reads Paul’s materials. “That amount doesn’t include the $159 billion that will likely be spent funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for FY2011. The proposal seeks to reduce war funding for FY2011 by $16 billion, in other words to provide $144 billion.”
Now we will find out if Republicans are serious about reducing spending or are just playing a make believe game.
My money is on make believe games. This bill will die in committee.
Jasper
January 26th, 2011
12:54 pm
It’s amusing watching you people trying to prove how superior you are to everyone else you’re talking down to, and while you are being nasty,witty,or profound ,our Country is being destroyed!
By the time Obama is done you all will wake up one day and find not that you are superior, but that you have lost the greatest Country the world has ever known,and now you have nothing! Enjoy
Kevin Jordan
January 26th, 2011
1:03 pm
I think the part that is the most disturbing about this type of speech is how certain facts are so “dumbed down” for the general public. It really is insulting. The level of spin is incredible. He mentions how the “stock market has come roaring back” as an indication that his policies are working. That is why we try to post articles and commentary on the alternate view. Many, many economists agree that the stock market is up because of the liquidity being pumped in by world governments. It is simply another bubble. Take a look at our free charts of the S&P 500 over at Stockcharts, and our blog with many fascinating graphics and articles on housing, gold, food, and the economy.
Charts:http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID3274981
Blog: http://www.precisiontradingsolutions.blogspot.com
jconservative
January 26th, 2011
1:05 pm
Re the discussion on the Constitution and amendments. Since the case of Marbury v Madison (1803) the Constitution says what the Supreme Court says it says.
For examplw, the Court just got around to saying what the 2nd Amendment means within the last two years in the Heller and McDonald decisions.
The Court has yet to speak to the 9th Amendment “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” What does this mean? Does it mean that the people have rights government cannot take away even if they are not listed in the Constitution? If not, then do any rights of the people have to be given to the people by the government?
John
January 26th, 2011
1:10 pm
@JB
Maybe you need a lesson on the Constitution, laws and the courts. Congress can pass any law and have it signed by the President. It’s the courts then that can rule the law as being constitutional or unconstitutional. That’s what happened in the cases you cited. The Supreme Court ruled in these cases, such as abortion or gun rights, etc. The same will happen with the mandate on health insurance.
But why stop there…are you saying we need tons of other amendments? Say for instance, marriage…since marriage is not in the Constitution. Or interracial marriage. There are many things ruled by the Supreme Court as being Constitutional that are really not specifically identified.
As far as the Constitution being rewritten or ignored…do you include Republicans wanting to ignore birthright citizenship enshrined in the 14th amendment. State Republican lawmakers (including GA) are looking at possibly not issueing birth certificates to children born of illegal immrants; therfore, not declaring or recongnizing them as citizens.
Of course, when a court applies Constitutional law and the right likes the ruling, nothing is said by the right but when it’s doesn’t sit well with the right all we hear are the “activist” judges.
Michael Tomlinson
January 26th, 2011
1:11 pm
Obama’s vision of America’s future is being China’s serfs.
Peter
January 26th, 2011
1:20 pm
Any Republican’s in the stock market currently ??????
That has to suck doesn’t it …all those US stocks going up.
The Stock market loves a Democratic President…….largest gains are made while a Democrat is in the oval office…..History read all about it !
John
January 26th, 2011
1:37 pm
Peter, don’t you realize that it doesn’t matter that US stocks are going up and that companies are seeing great profits. It’s the jobs…even though companies are making great profits they’re sitting on manoey and not hiring. Companies are saying they can’t find people with the right skill sets to fill the open positions. Obama wants to invest in education so American workers could acquire the right skill sets. Of course, Republicans don’t want to invest in education…they want to cut education. As Ran Paul sees it education is beyond the constitutional role of the federal government.
Here Spot
January 26th, 2011
1:55 pm
“Now we will find out if Republicans are serious about reducing spending or are just playing a make believe game.
My money is on make believe games. This bill will die in committee.”
And that is a shame. These cuts sound like the first place to start.
Sam
January 26th, 2011
1:56 pm
The progressive era of the last 100 years is arriving at its inevitable end. It’s just a matter of time. No more empire, no more entitlement.
Great Spaghetti Monster bless George Bush Jr. and Barack Obama for hastening the process and helping to end the era of progressive coercion, theft, and murder.
Jeff Black
January 26th, 2011
2:06 pm
The crisis our nation is in reflects the disaster of liberal policies since the 1940’s ….also, an idea that Government is our saviour….whether Republican or Democrats running things…government grows…it wastes…creates completely unsustainable programs which are ultimately burdens on all of us….we are now staring down at the abyss of financial insolvency….Other examples of such are Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, California, New York, Cuba, USSR….liberals are people who live in fantasy land looking to build utopias….they don’t have the money to pay for them…
killerj
January 26th, 2011
2:20 pm
OH NO KYLE “WATCH OUT CYNTHIA,S BEHIND YOU”………….AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here Spot
January 26th, 2011
2:21 pm
For all you ObaManiacs…
THIS JUST IN>>>> “Medicare official tells the House Budget Committee that President Obama’s health care law won’t hold down costs and that it won’t let everyone keep their current health insurance — even if they like it.”
Here Spot
January 26th, 2011
2:22 pm
Tucker is a good looking woman but other than that she is “out to lunch”.
“State of the Union is better; state of Obama is strong” So says CT.
retiredds
January 26th, 2011
2:34 pm
John, I don’t fully disagree with you about tax cuts and the deficit. But how do you explain the Republicans’ speech-making on responsible fiscal management with their track record during the last 35 years? And if the great conservative Red State of Texas is their latest model, how have they managed that state’s finances over the last couple of years?
jm
January 26th, 2011
2:40 pm
Nice column Kyle. Stick it to ‘em.
JohnLeeHooker
January 26th, 2011
2:51 pm
To DeborahinAthens who claims Med part D is the most expensive entitlement ever…
As of the end of year 2008, the average annual per beneficiary cost spending for Part D, reported by the Department of Health and Human Services, was $1,517,[18] making the total expenditures of the program for 2008 $49.3 (billions). Projected net expenditures from 2009 through 2018 are estimated to be $727.3 billion.[19]
NOTE THIS ANNUAL EXPENDITURE IS ROUGHLY WHAT AMERICANS SPEND EACH YEAR ON DOG FOOD!
Idiocy is your civil right. Be grateful!
Max
January 26th, 2011
2:55 pm
Dude, you buy – hook, line, and sinker, the line from the GOP that you can cut taxes, keep spending more or less level, and still balance the budget…. If you can stomach that (and you do your coming protest notwithstanding) you need to quietly slink into a corner and think of some other way to throw rocks.
Cheers,
Max
emperorclothes
January 26th, 2011
3:01 pm
Trickle down, why don’t you put your 401k all in governemnt bonds? Maybe because you know in the long run, the market is smarter. Aren’t they both investing in America? And if you did privatize SS, you would have the same low risk options anyway.
John
January 26th, 2011
3:04 pm
@JB
Talk about ignoring the Constitution. Check out the link below. GOP lawmakers pushing nullification proposals in several states, based on a Thomas Jefferson late 18th-centry doctrine that purposted to give states the ultimate say in constitutional matters.
Will they call to disban the Federal Courst System including the Supreme Court since they claim the states the the ultimate say. Is the GOP really mainstream?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110126/ap_on_re_us/us_health_care_nullification;_ylt=AkEJ7iMfRhRgRCcVmL3SxT.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFlMmlyMGMxBHBvcwM2OARzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3Vfc19uZXdzBHNsawNnb3BpbnZva2VzMTc-