Options
Obama's Misstatements on the Union
· Friday, January 27, 2012
Only a president long shielded from criticism and accountability could make the kind of State of the Union speech President Obama did Tuesday night. It's hard to know where to begin, given his repetition of tired ideas from his previous SOTUs, his taking credit for successful policies he resisted and omitting failed ones he promoted, his numerous misrepresentations on issues big and small, and his glaring refusal to address the main issues that threaten the nation.
Let me touch on just a few highlights in this brief space.
Excessive spending is the primary threat to our nation's and Americans' financial future, yet Obama glossed over it and distorted his record.
He said, "We've already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings. But we need to do more." But everyone knows he's had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the cutting table. His unrelenting passion is spending. Even The Washington Post said, "Obama does not mention that Republicans forced him to accept $2 trillion in budget cuts during the debt-ceiling impasse."
Obama said, "I'm prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long-term costs of Medicare and Medicaid and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors." Well, that's mighty magnanimous of him, but why is he so grudging about it? As president, he should be singularly focused on entitlement reform. Yet he has obstructed and demagogued such reforms. His condition that the "programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors" is completely dishonest, because Paul Ryan's plan did just that and he rejected it while ridiculing and demonizing Ryan.
Obama said, again, that to avoid Warren Buffett's secretary's paying a higher tax rate than her boss, we should adopt the "Buffett rule," prescribing that "if you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes." The Heritage Foundation tells us that according to Congressional Budget Office data, the top 1 percent of income earners already pay 30 percent of their income in all federal taxes. In addition, when wealthy people pay a lower effective income tax rate, it's a result either of lawful deductions (often charitable) or of capital gains and dividends on property they've acquired with money that has already been taxed. Also, before the wealthy realize many of these gains, the businesses that produce these gains have already paid a corporate income tax rate of 35 percent (the highest in the world). This means that Buffett, on much of this income, pays an effective rate of 50 percent (35 percent corporate plus 15 percent capital gains). Indeed, 99.4 percent of millionaires and billionaires pay far more in taxes in actual and relative terms than middle- and low-income earners, and for Obama to suggest otherwise is not only deeply deceitful but also damaging -- because of the class envy he constantly stokes -- to the social fabric of this country.
Obama said he wants to lure American companies home yet has steadfastly refused, notwithstanding his SOTU rhetoric, to agree to rectify the primary reasons they leave: punitive corporate income tax rates and onerous regulations.
Obama suggested that he is not only a pioneer in clean energy but also bullish on domestic energy. His record on the former is disgraceful, and both his claim and record on the latter are insulting. He has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on quixotic green-energy programs with Solyndra and its cousins, spending $5 million for every single "renewable energy" job he has created. He has defiantly refused to take responsibility and is continuing to pursue more. He has waged war on domestic coal, natural gas and oil. He not only imposed a punitive moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf but also lawlessly reinstituted another one after federal district and appellate courts shot down his initial moratorium. When he lifted this revised moratorium, drilling remained in limbo because of the administrative obstacles his administration had imposed on drilling permits. His actions caused devastating losses to the Gulf economy and jobs, which rippled throughout the nation's economy. Most recently, to placate his environmental extremist base, he blocked the job-producing Keystone XL pipeline for no legitimate reason.
Obama threatened to withhold federal subsidies to colleges unless they hold tuition costs down without recognizing that one of the main reasons they've skyrocketed is the profligate subsidies he continues to increase.
He railed against bailouts after having established a record as President Bailout. He blamed banks again for causing the housing crisis and economic meltdown by making loans to people who couldn't afford them, without admitting that government, mainly his party, was the primary culprit.
He said he'd established the closest military cooperation with Israel in history, but he has bullied that nation for three years, and our relationship has rarely been more strained.
Believe me, I could go on.
COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM
Third-party content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Patriot Post.
Options
Subscribe
Howard Baker, Ronald Reagan's White House Chief of Staff, comments on The Patriot Post: "Thank you for your confidence in, and efforts to sustain the Reagan legacy." It's Right. It's Free. Subscribe now!
The Right Opinion
- Peggy Noonan: Mitt Romney's Moment
- Argus Hamilton: From The Comedy Store
- Burt Prelutsky: Time to Start Playing Offense
- Rich Galen: Obama & Romney Tout Good News
- Edwin J. Feulner: 'Law of the Sea' Treaty: Sink It
- Arnold Ahlert: With Democrats, You're Either All In - or All Out
- Oliver North: Memorial Day 2012
- Ken Blackwell: Remarks on Religious Liberty
- L. Brent Bozell: Canada's 'Scientific' Museum of Smut
- Michelle Malkin: Obama's Land of the LOST
- Rebecca Hagelin: The 'Gay Marriage' Spin
- David Limbaugh: Obama and Leahy vs. Sir William Blackstone
Grassroots Commentary
Policy and Analysis
- Heritage Foundation Insider
- Heritage Foundation Research
- American Enterprise Institute
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- The Cato Institute
- Hoover Institution
- National Rifle Association
- Ludwig von Mises Institute
- Citizens Against Government Waste
- National Center for Policy Analysis
- The Heartland Institute
Our Mission
"The Patriot's mission is to advocate for Essential Liberty, the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and to promote free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. Our objective is to provide Patriots across our nation with a touchstone of First Principles through brief, informative and entertaining analyses of relevant news, policy and opinion from reputable research, advocacy and media organizations, so they may better support and defend those Principles, and enlist others to join our ranks." —Mark Alexander, Publisher
The Patriot Post is not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization, and we accept no advertising. Our mission and operations are funded entirely by the voluntary financial support of Patriots like you!























KN
"Believe me, I could go on." Please continue to do so. Lay it all out there for everyone to see.
As far as the "Buffett Rule" goes I'm tired of hearing it and the class warfare it invokes. As columnist Linda Chavez said:
"[I]n 2009, Obama took itemized deductions of $514,819, a foreign tax credit of $59,372, and a deduction for interest on his home of $52,195. He was also able to take a deduction for $49,000 he contributed to his self-employed retirement fund. If he had not taken these deductions, he would have paid taxes on an additional $675,386, which in his income bracket would have meant he owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 more in taxes at the top marginal tax rate of 35 percent. Furthermore, he instructed the Nobel committee to donate his entire $1.4 million Nobel Prize directly to 10 charities, thereby avoiding the necessity of declaring the money as income on which he would have owed an additional $490,000 in taxes. If the president is so appalled at the rich and their ability to hire accountants to take advantage of each and every deduction, why doesn't he simply take the standard deduction on his tax return, like most Americans?"
"Obama said. “I can afford it. Warren Buffett, he can afford it." And as I say: Well write a check. Better yet - don't claim any deductions and pay your taxes based on your gross income. Anyone who feels they don't pay enough - just write a check for more and leave the rest of us alone. Along with writing a check why don't you get the 47% who don't pay a single dime in federal income taxes to cough up some money.
Posted January 27, 2012 at 8:43:47 AM
mmccrindle
The only class envy that is evident here is his own.
His arrogance is certainly no substitute for class.
Posted January 27, 2012 at 9:08:45 AM
wjmccrindle
The man cannot speak without lying to we infidels. If one were to take a drink of an adult beverage for every lie spoken durring the SOTU address, you would have died from alchohol poisoning.
Posted January 27, 2012 at 12:05:53 PM
PDK
Good post as always David.
It is painful to listen to a man, who, standing up in front of all, simply lies to our face, though he and we, all know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth. The audacity of his audaciousness has set a new standard.
It is clear to me what must be done asap, cut taxes, cut spending and cut the bureaucracy. We must also build a wall on our southern border, or at least an impregnable double fence. We must tackle the problem of Islam now while their numbers are managable. We must invest somewhat more in military hardware and technology.
However this is what must be done if one loves America in ones heart and mind. If one hates America in ones heart and mind then one must not do these things. This is where the problem is for Obama, he hates America but needs another term to engender more destruction upon America, therefore he simply lies.
Unfortunately, Americas hand writting may already be on the wall. Unfortunately, King Baracs America, like King Belshazzars Babylon, may already have been weighed and found wanting.
Woe will be humanity, when all are enslaved to Islamic insanity.
Nobama 2012, vote republican. Thank you.
Posted January 27, 2012 at 2:02:13 PM
Holmes Simons
Mr. Limbaugh, I must disagree with you on one point: The massive federal debt IS NOT our main problem.
Our main problem is: The cowards comprising the audience in the House chamber at the SOTU have for three years acquiesced to a treasonous charlatan who annually stands behind the podium emblazoned with the Presidential seal and spouts untruths to the American People.
PC = Political Cowardice.
BS = SOTU
That's our main problem!
Posted January 27, 2012 at 2:40:23 PM
Adrien Nash
Does this do-nothing President do any real leading? His style, like many before him, is to lead by not leading. Delegation of authority. When authority is delegated to Delta males (like the fools who carried out Fast & Furious) everyone loses because apparently the buck stops nowhere, certain not at the Presidents desk. The Peter Principle stymies individual initiative and everything moves at a snail pace.
That's how bureaucracies work, or, I should say, don't work. Nothing that is needed to fix our government is something that he spends any time on. He leaves that to others. Others don't get anything done because they don't have the authority or the pull. That's why Kings and Communists can get things done quickly, like used to be possible in America, before the rise of the most massive bureaucracy in world history.
Facts are like hammers when they run counter to how one wishes to be seen. The facts had better be used to hammer the liar-in-chief during the final weeks of the election because the man is his own worst enemy when it comes to the record of his performance.
Each fact needs to be driven home as bluntly as by a hammer, not to shatter the rock of his "accomplishments" but to splatter the jello-y facade of sincerity, competence, commitment, and humanitarian concern. The label "HYPOCRITE" needs to be writ large as the evidence of the truth is presented. Maybe then it would finally stick.
Posted January 28, 2012 at 3:16:40 AM
Adrien Nash
P.S. My condolences to anyone who was required to watch that one hour of travesty. I left the tube off for the whole thing then only turned it back on for the Republican rebuttal, which was devastating. Why vex your spirit by listening to an hour of lies and insincere sincerity? Like the con man told the politician, "Once you've learned to fake sincerity, then you've got them." -or something like that.
Posted January 28, 2012 at 3:22:33 AM
JTG
Bringing the jobs back home? Does this mean that he ordered Jeff Immelt of GE to not relocate the Xray division to China? After all, Jeffy is one of his economic advisors. GE, if investigated fully, has become another money laundering entity for Obama and his party.
Posted January 30, 2012 at 4:34:27 PM