Why I Can't Get Behind President Obama...and Why You Shouldn't Either

State of the Union addresses are the historic medium for the President to outline the state of the nation before all branches of government and to share with the people the challenges and the strengths our nation faces each year. Sometimes the speeches are somber as in George W. Bush's 2002 address a few short months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Sometimes they are uplifting like Bill Clinton's 2000 address in a time of economic prosperity and peace. But Barack Obama is all about change, so we couldn't expect his most important speech to the nation this year to fit the mold.

Instead of bringing the nation together around our strengths or building on trust to shore up the nation for crisis, President Obama used the state of the union address to taunt, to ridicule, to mislead, and to generally behave like a jerk.

The President used the podium to chastise House and Senate Republicans for attempting to block legislation and of not being bipartisan. He began by stating "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." Of course, those comments were not directed at Democrats who have been using their super majority to shut the Republicans out of the legislative process. This became clear when he later added "To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills. And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership." Perhaps if the President himself would show some bipartisan tendencies others might be more willing. But his style of leadership is to tell us what is good for use whether we want it or not. Boo the the President and his Democratic foot soldiers and kudos to the Republican, Independents, and Blue Dogs who have kept the voice of the people in the political process.

And then there is the thuggery. It was completely inappropriate and offensive for the President of the United States to take the podium at the State of the Union and reprimand the Supreme Court of the United States of America and sit idly by as Congressional Democrats rise in ovation at his attack. "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’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong." The Presidents statements are misleading at best. What the Supreme Court actually did was to protect the free speech promised in the Constitution that had been limited by the McCain/Feingold bill. The President was attempting to use the SCOTUS decision as a scapegoat and to silence opposition to his agenda through a tactic of ridicule and mockery.

I am amazed by the number of otherwise intelligent people who still stand behind this President despite his blatant lies, his lack of decorum, and his wilful opposition to the interests of the American people. How can people be so blind to the truth? The President exhibits a lack of understanding of basic economic issues, he's weak on national defense, he practices partisan politics, he behaves like a Chicago thug, and he uses the podium like a pulpit preaching his socialist/progressive ideology to a country that wants nothing to do with it. He practices the same tactis which he warns against and claims to fight. The President is a poor leader who parades about like narcissistic fool patting himself on the back for bringing hope and change to the U.S...fiddling away like a modern day Nero as the nation burns down around him set on fire by his irrisponsible policy.

2012 can't get here soon enough for me.

Supreme Court Upholds First Amendment Rights

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."- The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

In the wake of the Haitian earthquakes, President Obama's failure to close Guantanamo, and the Massachusetts senate race, you may have missed the landmark Supreme Court decision which upheld first amendment rights. On January 21st, SCOTUS ruled in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that campaign finance spending limits on corporations and unions are unconstitutional.

So what does this mean for freedom-loving Americans? Some-like the President- would argue that it means that corportations and union lobbyists will now have free reign to do whatever they please and say whatever they like to influence elections. They believe that allowing corporations to have a voice somehow will corrupt the democratic process. I disagree. What it really means is that no policital voice can be stifled. That is what the Constitution promised us. The Founding Fathers wanted very much to protect the people from government control over political speech. That's why the amendment reads that Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech. McCain/Feingold therefore was unconstitutional. Kudos to the Supreme Court for upholding our freedom and shame on the President for not recognizing the same.