Saturday, January 30, 2010

Best SOTU Summary

I know it may be a little late, but I wanted to alert readers to Peggy Noonan's article about Obama's State of the Union address. As usual, she masterfully parses the meaning behind the words, accounting for tone, order of priority and context. She also discusses the larger political issues for the Republican Party and quotes an unnamed source who is spot on in my opinion:

The great issue, this friendly critic added, is debt. The public knows this; Congress and the White House do not. "To me the Republicans are as rotten as the Democrats" in terms of spending. "Almost."

"I hope we have big changes in 2010," the friend said. Only significant loss will force the president to focus on spending. "To heal our country we need to get the arrogance out of the White House and the elitists out of the Congress. We need tough love. We need a real adult in the White House because we don't have adults in the Congress."

Exactly. The public is ready for principled leadership that will give direction and reduce the spending that has nothing to do with those priorities. This is why the Tea Party movement won't go away. Republicans could show great leadership by eschewing earmarks immediately, and oppose all Democrat earmarks. But that would require adult leadership.

4 comments:

  1. Not a fan of Noonans, but the article was well done.

    As I watched the Pelosi standing O's, I was struck by the automated feel to her response.

    .....and I wanted to say "pop goes the weasel"

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  2. Dick Armey told the current crop of Republican legislators that they needed to get back to their roots and win over the Tea Party crowd. Maybe they will.

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  3. This was not a State of the Union address but rather a SOME address. (state of my ego). Nothing your president said was new or hadn't been used in a prior campaign speech. Same old rhetoric (jobs, bipartisan cooperation, weak economic recovery plans highlighted by several small examples out of many failures, health care, GITMO, rights for terrorists, transparent government, etc.) This was more like I want to justify how I messed up our government in the last year repudiation speech. What arrogance, what an ego! Obama is clearly not in touch with actual events surrounding his meddling in private corporate affairs, the economy, and with health care given his condescending attitude while giving his campaign, er, SOTU speech. And to make matters worse, he added quick one-liners regarding the right thing to do for gays in the military, health care for returning veterans, and health care in general. To top it all off, in a face to face session with the Republicans, he claims he is not an ideologue! Get a grip Obama, we know what you are and much to my dismay you will the first affirmative action President to clearly demonstrate why the AA program was a failure. You are not the right person for the job and, by your actions over the last year, have clearly demonstrated that to all of us. Now "man up" and see if you can do what is right for America and not for the DNC or Obama.

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  4. Paul,
    Well put. But there is no need to sugar coat your remarks.

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