[StBernard] Michael Barone's editorial on Obama's State of the Union Address

[Westley Annis]

In a time when it's difficult to hear commentary that simply "says it like
it is," Michael Barone's op-ed in the Washington Examiner on Obama's recent
State of the Union address hits the head of the nail dead on.  In case you
missed it, check it out below.  It's rather refreshing to see an editorial
in plain language - and accurate!

 


A Chastened and Weary Obama Reports on State of the Union


A Commentary By Michael Barone

in Political Commentary
<http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary> 

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Friday, January 31, 2014

Not as bad as expected. That's my verdict on President Obama's fifth State
of the Union address.

With his approval running well under 50 percent, Obama was not quite so
confrontational as he has been in the past.

He conceded that in the last four years, wages "have barely budged," that
inequality "has deepened" and upward mobility "has stalled." No more blaming
everything on George W. Bush.

He noted obliquely that "last year the Voting Rights Act was weakened"
without explicitly attacking the Supreme Court for its ruling that states
could not be singled out for heightened scrutiny based on low voter turnout
in the years from 1964 to 1972.

He said he would work with states expanding pre-kindergarten schooling and
limited his Republican bashing to the phrase "as Congress decides what it's
going to do." He noted approvingly Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's proposal to
reshape the Earned Income Tax Credit.

To be sure, many of his proposals were pretty small-ball. He recycled calls
for corporate tax reform, port upgrades and high-tech manufacturing hubs. He
called for patent reform and savings bond investment accounts.

Contrary to press predictions, he did not harp on "income inequality" -- the
phrase must poll poorly. The remedies he proposed -- raising the minimum
wage and continuing 100-week unemployment benefits -- do pathetically little
to address it.

Immigration and gun control got brief, vague paragraphs. His defensive
paragraphs about Obamacare evoked as much laughter as applause.

His proclamation of economic progress was necessarily tepid. His hailing of
America's approaching energy independence necessarily omitted the fact that
his administration has done more to discourage than encourage the fracking
revolution in oil and natural gas.

He was careful to say that solar panel installation can't be outsourced but
of course failed to mention that solar panel manufacturing can be and is --
and that his crony capitalism "investment" in Solyndra and other solar firms
was a bust.

On issues dear to the heart of Democratic core constituencies, he resorted
to outright falsehoods.

Women earn only 77 cents for each dollar men earn, he said. That's a number
that goes back to the 1970s. His own Labor Department's survey says that
when you take account of hours worked and type of work, the number is more
like 95 cents.

"Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child's
life is high-quality early education," he said. Actually, his own Health and
Human Services study has found no lasting value in Head Start programs.

"The debate is settled," he said. "Climate change is a fact." It is "already
harming western communities suffering from drought and coastal cities
dealing with floods."

Actually, temperatures have not increased over the last 15 years, as the
global warming alarmists' models predicted. Perhaps they will over the
longer run.

But most people who accept or reject global warming have the good sense to
resist the temptation to claim that any recent unpleasant weather --
drought, floods, whatever -- confirms their view. Obama was unable to
resist.

The president spent more time on foreign policy than expected, tacitly
acknowledging mistakes. He admitted al Qaeda's "core leadership" is only on
"a path to defeat" and its threat "has evolved" in Yemen, Somalia, Mali and
Iraq.

That's an implicit admission that the failure to get an agreement to
maintain some U.S. troops in Iraq has increased the threat -- and Obama
could only say he hopes for such an agreement in Afghanistan.

On Syria, Obama said he would "support the opposition that rejects the
agenda of terrorist networks" and work with allies to give the Syrian people
"a future free of dictatorship, terror and fear." How?

Iran, he said, was forced to the negotiating table by tough sanctions, but
he would veto the bill to add sanctions if negotiations fail -- but then
would call for more himself. Huh

The best part was the end. Obama told of meeting Army Ranger Cory Remsburg
at a D-Day anniversary and then again after he was seriously injured in
Afghanistan -- and how Remsburg is recovering and determined to serve again.

"Men and women like Cory remind us that America has never come easy," he
said, in an eloquent paragraph recounting America's achievements over
200-plus years that everyone in the audience could agree with.

An excellent end to an overlong speech by an apparently chastened and weary
president.