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
lance sjogren
January 26th, 2011
3:08 pm
Why is anyone looking for something new? Politicians always stick to the agenda of the people that voted them into office.
Looking for innovation in government is like looking for Denny’s restaurant to find the answer to our future energy needs.
Ex-fed
January 26th, 2011
3:24 pm
As an independent who has voted for both democrats and republicans, I am not interested in the rigid belief that Dems are always good and Repubs bad and vice versa. We are at the point now that we will be in the trough with all of the other PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) who have reached or are imminently reaching the day of fiscal reckoning where they are truly having to undertake austerity programs to stay solvent. Obama is talking out of both sides of his mouth because he came to power by doing this, saying one thing then shamelessly doing another.
Obama says that the government cannot pick the industries of the future — moments before explaining how it is going to create jobs in renewable energy. His proposal to improve the nation’s infrastructure centers on the faddish boondoggle of high-speed rail, which is wholly unsuitable for a country with our population density, unlike Japan where vast populations live clustered in a narrow funnel of valleys on the major island of Honshu, smaller than the state of California. He favors increased subsidies for higher education that are more likely to increase college tuitions than to prepare our work force for the challenges of tomorrow. His plan for Social Security must consist entirely of tax increases, since he has ruled out every other expedient. He is unwilling to rethink a health-care plan that is likely to add to the country’s economic burdens: increasing insurance premiums, reducing wages, raising taxes, and adding to the national debt. Obama’s economic strategy is a high-speed train to nowhere.
I live in DC and have worked for the Federal Government. You really have no idea how much money is wasted when it is other people’s money. So many of our ineffective and rapidly becoming insolvent duplicative government programs are begun through the rosy glasses of “helping people” through the reins of public employees who are really unaccountable, resulting in wasted taxpayer money. I became sick of this and went to the private sector, where hard work counts, merit, not seniority results in promotions. We cannot keep spending like this. Since the Federal Government is so good at wasting money, lets give them less money in which to waste.
John
January 26th, 2011
3:25 pm
Talk about grasping at straws. Today the Republican house voted to end subsidies for presidential campaigns saying it will reduce federal spending by $617 million over a decade. This does nothing to reducing the deficit since this is a fund taxpayers voluntarily contribute to by checking to donate $3 to the fund. It’s has no effect on the individuals taxes.
Libby
January 26th, 2011
3:30 pm
You don’t. And I don’t waste my time listening to propaganda.
Peter
January 26th, 2011
4:02 pm
Hey Kyle…..Republicans really know how to screw over the population in Georgia……
Example…….Dumb appointed Dumber…..Perhaps if Deal didn’t lie to the state he wouldn’t be in office ?
State issues $12 million in tax refunds, takes them back
By Christopher Quinn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Department of Revenue issued $12 million in tax refunds beginning last week to more than 30,000 Georgians, then began withdrawing them from bank accounts Monday, leaving people overdrawn and wondering where their money went.
Unknown Revenue Commissioner Douglas J. MacGinnitie apologized to Georgians for the tax refunds and blamed a computer error.
Revenue Commissioner Douglas J. MacGinnitie, who was appointed to the job eight days ago, apologized to Georgians Wednesday and blamed a computer error. He said that someone discovered that more money was issued in some refunds than people should have gotten, so the state began reeling the money back in.
He said the department corrected the error and began depositing the refunds back into people’s accounts today.
But people were not notified, and some banks were not told what was going on until Tuesday afternoon, when customers began complaining.
Jay Lawrence, a Wells Fargo spokesman, said the bank had to contact the state to figure out what was going on.
“We reached out to the state yesterday and we offered to work with them and see what we could do to help them sort it out,” Lawrence said.
MacGinnitie said, “Clearly, we need to work to make the Department of Revenue more customer-focused. I assume that is why the governor asked me to take this job.”
Gov. Nathan Deal appointed MacGinnitie Jan. 18.
Yup..how many people bounced checks and got messed up because of this GUY ?
Alex
January 26th, 2011
4:37 pm
How do you take seriously a journalist who openly labels himself a conservative? You might as well say “warning, this piece contains heavy bias and skew”. I would say the same to a liberal. In doing this, you’re ensuring that conservatives agree w/ you and liberals don’t. That makes for little to no informative discussion other than the dead-tired mantra of both the left and right.
Also, reading this is like listening to one of my grandpa’s rants. Try opening a paragraph with a new phrase every once and awhile… we get it, you don’t take Obama seriously. Good for you.
Not to mention your very first shot at Obama’s promise to spend more on education while freezing the budget contains a glaring fallacy. You really don’t think it’s possible to spend more on education while not increasing the total budget? Where could we pull funds from… hmm… I KNOW! One of two current wars, perhaps? Military spending has run rampant since 2001 with little to no restrictions by either party. Come on. You’ve just ensured that I never read another one of your pieces again.
And as I scroll down these comments, I am forced to laugh– or cry. People accusing others of smoking meth? Resorting to childish puns like “ObaManure”? Wow folks, we’re the first to insult our president’s professionalism yet this… THIS… is reall how we think an intelligent discussion/debate takes place? I’ve heard classier arguements on a playground. And I’m sure my comments will do nothing but fuel the flame and people will be calling me plenty of witty, yet hollow names. And I couldn’t care less. Rip into me, go right ahead… I’m never going to open this page again so don’t worry, I won’t take it personally.
As a left-leaning Independent, I watched SOTU knowing that SOTU speeches are typically filled with party jargon while outlining the Pres. agenda for the coming year. I was impressed at some points and upset at others. No, I don’t think this country or our President is “going down in flames”. Do I think he’s failed on some promises. Heck yes. Do I think we’ve made significant progress since 09? It would be hard to say we haven’t. All of the Chicken Littles out there claiming the world is coming to an end need to call up the oldest living relative they have and get a lesson in what it means to be American, what it means to be determined, and what it means to be united.
The only thing that is manure is this thread. The only thing going down in flames is my hope for new-media with intellectual discussions about politics. Americans balk at our government for being partisan, but we discuss politics like 5 year olds discuss whose turn it is on the swingset.
eot
January 26th, 2011
5:16 pm
I usually do not go on line to comment on any matter but everyone of us needs to remember that he is a politician and the only thing that a politician is interested is getting re-elected, whether he be Democrat or Republican. They will lie and say anything to be back in the good ol boys chair sucking on the taxpayers teet and will stay there until they die or get caught at the crooked things they are doing to bolster their finances. You ever wonder why someone would spend a fortune of someone elses money to get elected to a job that does not have a salary that is worth it.
We need to dump 99% of those in Washington and place term limits on any elected to future offices and let them have the same benefits for health care and retirement as most of us do. You can tell a politician is lying when you see his lips moving.
Peter
January 26th, 2011
6:10 pm
Dick Cheney said…… Deficits don’t matter.
Was he a real Republican or not ?
AJC Op Ed: How Can you Take That Speech Serious? | The Atlee Appeal
January 26th, 2011
6:44 pm
[...] Similar opinion to what I wrote about this morning, but at a slightly different angle. Obama’s SOTU was the biggest news story in the past 24 hours so about 3/4s of all news out there right now is related to that speech. It is a little frustrating, as I’d love to read something else, but this opinion article from the AJC is short and worth a couple minutes of reading. http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2011/01/26/obama-gives-a-speech-we-cant-take-seriously/?cxntfid=... [...]
Budman
January 26th, 2011
7:16 pm
I heard that speech by my grammar school principal in the fifth grade in 1959. Obama is the best at lowering the bar while claiming the high jump award. It Mazes
me how I can tell dem responses to this article by their vitriol and syncopathic content.is thT Ll you got Obama. That’s your vision, change I can believe in. Big o is the laughing stock of the real world. The “real world” not Obamaland.
nick
January 26th, 2011
8:20 pm
obama is an inept community organizer ……. nothing more
DavisJohn
January 26th, 2011
8:50 pm
Does anyone take Obama seriously any more?
GOP WASTE
January 27th, 2011
8:19 am
The only time Republicans believe in spending is when it benefits the rich, the powerfull. They have no problems suggesting subsidies and special deals for the big corporations, even if they move jobs overseas. Corporate welfare is fine, its just plain help for citizens that’s wastefull spending. The Repubs are willing to go into debt to fight unnecessary wars or give tax breaks for the rich but not to invest in America’s competitiveness or our childrens education.
But guess what, unless we make the investments of the future we will soon become a second rate power and have to serve the interests of a more powerful China. I wonder if Kyle has any views on how socialist China became an economic power that challenges the US in the international arena.
China didn’t do it by making more tanks but by making more products. By excelling in technology, manufacturing and education. This is the base of an empire, and it is here where we are failing. You want to keep your Empire? Then you have to invest in its people and its future. Don’t be blind, open your eyes.
GOP Defender
January 27th, 2011
9:47 am
“Bush was bad too” is the only defense I ever hear of Obama from Dems. Not a very strong endorsement. And shouldn’t we expect better? Dem partisans need to get their heads out of the arses and wake up to the fact that the “change” this president promised isn’t worth the air it took to make it.
R. L. Hails Sr. P. E.
January 27th, 2011
11:30 am
No one believes our leaders any more. Words are cheap when reality is clearly different. As an engineer with forty years of energy study, I am certain that if the US does not use coal, oil, nat, gas and uranium, immediately, the cost of energy will destroy us. All green energy technologies cost too much for basic supply, and will for perhaps this century. Obama acts like we are rich. Except for a few financial and legal types, he is ignorant of Americans’ needs.
independent thinker
January 28th, 2011
7:34 am
I wonder if Obama really has the stones to veto a bill with earmarks. He keeps promising but it has not happened yet.
No More Progressives!
January 28th, 2011
9:36 am
Aquagirl
January 26th, 2011
7:35 am
Hmmmm….Repeal Medicare D, don’t launch stupid and expensive wars……….
There seems to be a redundant theme with you. You’re Cindy Sheehan in disguise, right?
Is there a war that wasn’t stupid at some level? Is there a war that wasn’t expensive?
When Caligula of the Ozarks (Slick Willie) told us in 1995 that the troops would be home by Christmas (they’er still in Bosnia today), did you endorse that “conflict”?
Last, if your not Cindy Sheehan, are you related to Jane Fonda?
Don’t repeal Medicare; privatize it.
Hadenough
January 28th, 2011
10:21 am
Kyle, Your article is right on the money or lack of in Obama’s case. This president is totally out of his mind to think we can keep spending money on ANY projects outside of what is needed to maintain national services. The CBO director stated yesterday that “We are at the tipping point of financial ruin”, because of our national debt and the government needs to stop the spending now.
Weekly E-Newsletter 1/31 | Oklahoma GOPOklahoma GOP
January 31st, 2011
4:34 pm
[...] in alternative energy sources — all while saying we’re not going to spend more money?" (Read More) [...]