Pres. Obama's State of the Union Address: What Did You Think?
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans:
Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our union. For two hundred and twenty years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They have done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility. And they have done so in the midst of war and depression; at moments of great strife and great struggle.
It's tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable - that America was always destined to succeed. But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were times that tested the courage of our convictions, and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements; our hesitations and our fears; America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, and one people.
Again, we are tested. And again, we must answer history's call.
One year ago, I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by 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.
But the devastation remains. One in ten Americans still cannot find work. Many businesses have shuttered. Home values have declined. Small towns and rural communities have been hit especially hard. For those who had already known poverty, life has become that much harder.
This recession has also compounded the burdens that America's families have been dealing with for decades - the burden of working harder and longer for less; of being unable to save enough to retire or help kids with college.
So I know the anxieties that are out there right now. They're not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for President. These struggles are what I've witnessed for years in places like Elkhart, Indiana and Galesburg, Illinois. I hear about them in the letters that I read each night. The toughest to read are those written by children - asking why they have to move from their home, or when their mom or dad will be able to go back to work.
For these Americans and so many others, change has not come fast enough. Some are frustrated; some are angry. 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. They are tired of the partisanship and the shouting and the pettiness. They know we can't afford it. Not now.
So we face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope - what they deserve - is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared. A job that pays the bills. A chance to get ahead. Most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.
You know what else they share? They share a stubborn resilience in the face of adversity. After one of the most difficult years in our history, they remain busy building cars and teaching kids; starting businesses and going back to school. They're coaching little league and helping their neighbors. As one woman wrote me, "We are strained but hopeful, struggling but encouraged."
It is because of this spirit - this great decency and great strength - that I have never been more hopeful about America's future than I am tonight. Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit. We do not allow fear or division to break our spirit. In this new decade, it's time the American people get a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength.
And tonight, I'd like to talk about how together, we can deliver on that promise.
It begins with our economy.
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, it's that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal.
But when I ran for President, I promised I wouldn't just do what was popular - I would do what was necessary. And if we had allowed the meltdown of the financial system, unemployment might be double what it is today. More businesses would certainly have closed. More homes would have surely been lost.
So I supported the last administration's efforts to create the financial rescue program. And when we took the program over, we made it more transparent and accountable. As a result, the markets are now stabilized, and we have recovered most of the money we spent on the banks.
To recover the rest, I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks. 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.
As we stabilized the financial system, we also took steps to get our economy growing again, save as many jobs as possible, and help Americans who had become unemployed.
That's why we extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans; made health insurance 65% cheaper for families who get their coverage through COBRA; and passed 25 different tax cuts.
Let me repeat: we cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95% of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college. As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend on gas, and food, and other necessities, all of which helped businesses keep more workers. And we haven't raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime.
Because of the steps we took, there are about two million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. 200,000 work in construction and clean energy. 300,000 are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, and first responders. And we are on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year.
The plan that has made all of this possible, from the tax cuts to the jobs, is the Recovery Act. That's right - the Recovery Act, also known as the Stimulus Bill. Economists on the left and the right say that this bill has helped saved jobs and avert disaster. But you don't have to take their word for it.
Talk to the small business in Phoenix that will triple its workforce because of the Recovery Act.
Talk to the window manufacturer in Philadelphia who said he used to be skeptical about the Recovery Act, until he had to add two more work shifts just because of the business it created.
Talk to the single teacher raising two kids who was told by her principal in the last week of school that because of the Recovery Act, she wouldn't be laid off after all.
There are stories like this all across America. And after two years of recession, the economy is growing again. Retirement funds have started to gain back some of their value. Businesses are beginning to invest again, and slowly some are starting to hire again. Read the rest of the complete speech HERE.
Obama’s speech was stunning in its arrogance, rhetoric, insults, scolding of Congress and blaming of everyone from the Supreme Court to George W. Bush.
Polled Reactions of Speech:
All words and no action… Talk is cheap but no results.
Speech was a recycle of his campaign.
Sounds good, but nothing behind it!
More of the same.
Lies, lies and more lies…
He takes no responsibility, blames everyone, and can’t top blaming Bush.
Amazingly arrogant…
I have never trusted that guy. He is a socialist with a socialistic agenda, and America just won’t wake up.
The Speech proved that he (Obama) is an arrogant ideologue~
If you don’t follow what is going on the speech sounded great, on the surface, but in reality it was all rhetoric and well written smoke and mirrors. He talked about focusing on jobs, jobs, jobs, but then everything he highlight was anti-job. He blamed everyone but himself, and unlike Clinton, he did not hear the warning shot (heard round the world); Scott Brown’s election. Clinton heard the people after his and Hillary’s socialized medicine push fell apart and moved to the center. Obama arrogantly yet often hidden in innuendos said he was pushing forward with Cap and Trade… renamed, pushing ahead with ObamaCare, and even insulted (interpreted by many as trying to manipulate) the Supreme Court seated in front of him. He also insulted the American people over and over again…
Obama said he would continue working to stop earmarks. In reality he has done nothing to stop earmarks. He talked about cutting spending, but in reality his freeze doesn’t start until after 2011 after he has raised the debt and spent us into oblivion and he and Congress will continue to spend and raise the debt unto 2011, all the while siphoning off funds as they have for the administrations pet projects. And finally Obama had the nerve to tell the American people that the worst of the economic storm was over and that ‘now’ he would be transparent. And let us remember that Obama has already increased spending (in just one year) by between 12% and 17%, depending on what you include. And Obama’s plan only freezes .58% for the next 3-years. (Obama’s Spending Freeze Announcement is Meaningless… And Why)
What Obama did not address was terrorism, the terrorist trial in New York, the bad decisions of the his DHS team over Christmas or the closure (or non-closure) of Gitmo.
The items highlighted in Obama’s speech were more of the same… more government interference; anti-personal freedom and America’s ‘global’ standing as he focused his gaze on his cabinet filled with Progressives, Marxists, and anything but Constitutionalists. Lucky for him they don’t march in the czars at these events: A Comprehensive List of O’s Czars and a brief description of each!
Reaction from both sides of the aisle to Obama’s speech was overall negative.
Frank Luntz Author of What Americans Really Want...Really and professional pollster, polled and in-house group as well as conducted a national poll of reactions to Obama’s State of the Union speech.
Results of Luntz Poll:
Good 8%
Fair 5%
Terrible 86%
GOP State of Union Response: We Can't Afford Dems' Spending
WASHINGTON -- The nation cannot afford the spending Democrats have enacted or the tax increases they propose, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Wednesday in the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address.
McDonnell told a cheering crowd of supporters in Richmond, Va., that Democratic policies are resulting in an unsustainable level of debt. He said Americans want affordable health care, but they don't want the government to run it.
"Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much," McDonnell said. "In the past year, more than 3 million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren." Read more ...
ALSO: Text of GOP Response to State of the Union
'Not True': Alito Fires Back After Obama Jabs Supreme Court
Can this be considered the equivalent of a Supreme Court heckle? Close to an hour into his address tonight President Obama called out the Supreme Court’s recent decision to remove all limits on what corporations can spend on an election. And he did it to their faces.
“With all due deference to separation of powers, last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’d urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that corrects some of these problems.”
SNAP. The Supreme Court justices sit directly below the President and traditionally do not respond to anything the president says during his speech. Not this time. Obama’s remarks were clearly too much for Justice Alito, who could be seen rather emphatically shaking his head.
Yawn: Obama Puts Reid to Sleep
Harry Reid Yawns During Obama's State Of The Union
It is full speed ahead my fellow Americans… Cap and Trade; ObamaCare on the Dem’s terms; slight of hand economics; Amnesty; a jobs bill that will cost us money and won’t create jobs; indirect tax hikes… so Obama can say he isn’t raising taxes; continued attacks on personal freedom and the Constitution; promotion of fringe groups and the normalizing of Islam in our society while attacking Christians, Jews and American Traditions and the promotion of Globalism, the Progressive Green Agenda and World Government (through the United Nations) over Americans and American Sovereignty. It is Obama’s Progressive Agenda and although he threw the GOP and the American People a few bones, he backed and hinted at everyone of his beliefs in his speech and never really pivoted toward the center.
We are being had by a slick salesman. The question here is are the American People our Founding Fathers believed in and left their dream to? Or are we the idiots that Joe Klein of the Times and Obama’s cabinet and czars believe that we are???
Obama said in his speech, “One of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education!”, and interesting comment from the head of an administration that cancelled the voucher program in DC for primarily under-privileged black children. And when you hear stories like this past week of the re-writing of textbooks, including the suggestions of eliminating the mention of: Christmas, Thomas Payne, the religion of the Founding Fathers and their stand on God, etc and a government takeover of student loans… who can and will ultimately use that to direct people toward professions the government wants and then use enrollment in Obama Youth to payback those loans, you need to step back and think twice! (See: The Dumbing Down of America Series)
Remember: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”, and those that steal freedom are always slick charismatic talkers!
Related:
VIDEOS: State of the Union Highlights
AP Fact Check: State of Union vs. Reality
Barack Obama is actually pulling a David Copperfield with this spending freeze
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