I WATCHED, I LISTENED, BUT I DIDN’T HEAR MUCH!

I WATCHED, I LISTENED, BUT I DIDN’T HEAR MUCH!

(HUFFPOST, Howard Fineman, Washington Post)

(CNN, Tom Cohen, Chelsea J. Carter, Leigh Ann Caldwell)

(Associated Press, Calvin Woodward, Tom Raum, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I caught much of the president’s State of the Union speech on the old boob tube and once again was impressed on how the president can almost mesmerize a group of people that number a dozen, or an entire nation via television. Barack Obama is one remarkable public speaker, one of the best of all-time. He had the Chronicle’s editor and chief, (my wife) sniveling and asking for a tissue.

There are negatives all over the place, it comes when a country’s government is polarized like ours is, it’s impossible for the atmosphere to be any other way. As a nation we’ve had almost unbelievable bad weather when it comes to our last five presidential campaigns. First there was Bill Clinton coming out of nowhere to best incumbent George Herbert Walker Bush (a real stiff if there ever was one). And then he, (Bill Clinton) beat upstart Bob Dole and Ross (I’m all ears) Perot to claim a second term in the White House.

George W. Bush (G.H.W. Bush’s son) claimed a return to a Republican President in the White House when the Supreme Court did their own ballot count, and ruled that G.W. Bush had defeated environmentalist Al Gore. Bush won re-election in 1994 by defeating a career politician, John Kerry, whose wife, Maria Teresa Sinoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry has more names, and more wealth then her husband…..John Kerry.

Kerry in my estimation was a poster child for all the things that a presidential candidate should never do.  He tried to portray himself as an every-man, was talked into a photo op showing him in hunting garb, about ready to shoot at something…..he was grist for the Bush political machine, and he predictably ground Kerry into so much chaff.

The 2008 and 2012 elections were all about a black candidate who captured the sense of equality, and that anybody could attain that equality if they worked hard. Here again the opponents running against Obama in 2008, and then in 2012 were…..to say the least…..weak. John McCain tried to spice up his campaign by getting Sarah Palin to become his running mate, and in the process Palin became the first female Vice Presidential candidate…..Obama won.

Obama ran for a second term in 2012 against Mitt Romney, a professed regular guy even though he is a millionaire with assets that total into the millions. His fatal flaw was a remark caught on camera when he talked about 47% of Americans being on some sort of government assistance, and they we’re gonna vote for Obama anyways…..Obama won again.

A YEAR OF ACTION

Some figure that President Obama was laying out priorities for his second term in office, others said that his address to the nation was little more than a rehashing of issues that have already been a part of his administration’s agenda throughout his presidency…..I tend to agree with those people who talk about the rehashing opinion.

The president urged Congress to help restore opportunity for the American working man…..how I’m not sure, I didn’t hear any solutions to the labor shortage here in the U.S., and I really don’t know, nor have I ever understood how government could hasten the availability of jobs for Americans…..in reality.

I know from personal experience that finding a job when the financial picture of the country is less then rosy is damn tough. I do understand about incentives that government can offer to jog business into a kind of jump-start, but this usually features low ended jobs, not a very progressive way to get people back to work.

Afghanistan: Wind down war in Afghanistan by removing troops and completing mission by the end of this year. Hell I hate war, but for the life of me I can’t understand how this’ll ever happen, not when you leave a small amount of U.S. military to teach Afghani soldiers in warfare tactics, and hunt down and kill al-Qaida. You know what’ll happen the first time several American forces are captured or killed, bam; U.S. forces will be redeployed in numbers.

Education: Connect 15,000 schools and 20 million students with high-speed broadband in the next two years. Award grants to redesign winning high schools to prepare students for today’s job market. Improve access for low-income students and lower costs, and get Congress to fund universal preschool. All of this would be great, but most of us know it won’t happen, not in this administration, or any other administration.

Fighting terrorism: Paraphrasing here, “limit use of drones in foreign countries, overhaul U.S. surveillance programs”, ya sure, about the same time that cows fly, and close Guantanamo…..(which breed of cows were flying, Jerseys, or Herefords?)

Health Care: Encourage Americans without insurance to sign up through new exchanges by March 31 deadline. Urge Republicans to give up attempts to repeal Obama’s health care law. Mr. President, are you CRAZY, the act, or law, whichever you want to call it…..did not eliminate insurance companies from poking their hungry noses into the process…..how could the plan ever be a success for the consumer?

Immigration: Call for Congress for comprehensive immigration overhaul, this year. Include a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living and working in the U.S. illegally at the present time. I gotta ask you Mr. Prez, “how is that ever going to happen,” huh, you don’t know either.

Iran: Pursue negotiations with Iran towards a long-term nuclear deal, using the old sanction hammer threat if they don’t comply. Do these people on Capitol Hill need a transfusion or something, Iran’s not afraid of being sanctioned, hell they’ve been sanctioned for years, and they probably like it.

Minimum wage and taxes: Boy here’s two subjects that go hand in glove raising wages to $10.10 an hour, where in hell did a dime come into wage hike negotiations anyways. It would be a start Mr. President, however, a living wage is more like $16 or $17 bucks an hour, how in hell are we going to get to that plateau Sir? Here’s an idea, re-institute the old Works Progress Administration (WPA), hell the program employed more than 3 million people, and they did all kinds of work from road construction, to building sports facilities, to clearing federal forest lands. We’re paying unemployment now, we’re paying for public assisted food stamp programs, we’re paying for publically funded health care…..let’s take that money and get people to working on meaningful projects.

And Taxes, don’t expand anything, like earned-income tax credit, or any kind of tax refund program…..keep taxes exactly where there at right now, maybe levy an additional tax on anybody who’s paid over $100,000 a year, have it graduated from $100,000 up to a million, and then really take charge of anybody over that million dollar mark.

These are just random thoughts that invaded my head while I was listening to our esteemed leader, I really can’t figure out why things are so complicated…..just use some of my counter programs, they’ll work, I guarantee it.

HAVE A NICE DAY!