California Conservative

Wednesday night, President Obama met his match. In a speech that was touted as President Obama’s pivot to the center, President Obama delivered a ’stay the course’ message that sounded like a ‘I told you so’ speech. Instead of admitting the failure of his stimulus bill, he bragged about how the bill saved jobs even though there’s no way of verifying the accuracy of the statistics. Here’s what he said in talking up the ’successes’ of the stimulus:

Because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. Two-hundred-thousand work in construction and clean energy. Three-hundred-thousand are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, and first responders. And we are on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year.

Rather than changing his condescending tone, he’s returned to insulting America’s intelligence. Let’s remember that Recovery.gov’s statistics includes money spent in 440 non-existent House districts. Now we’re supposed to trust President Obama’s recitation of information that’s both unverifiable and self-serving? I’ll pass on that.

Compare that recitation of public jobs theoretically saved with Gov. McDonnell’s statement of the conservative gospel on how to create jobs:

Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector’s ability to create new jobs. We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world. What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.

When people compare President Obama’s strategy for creating jobs with Gov. McDonnell’s perscription, I’m betting that more people will agree with Gov. McDonnell than with President Obama. Frankly, I’ll bet that, if it was polled on that specific question, Gov. McDonnell would win by a 2:1 margin, if not by a bigger margin.

Here was another part of President Obama’s speech that didn’t fit with reality:

Now, the true engine of job creation in this country will always be America’s businesses. But government can create the conditions necessary for businesses to expand and hire more workers.

I’m not arguing that small businesses create the jobs. I’m just suggesting that the policies this Democratic congress and this administration have tried enacting would’ve decimated small businesses. The taxes from the Cap and Trade bill would’ve caused energy prices to spike at a time when people were already living paycheck to paycheck. The taxes included in the Democrats’ health care bills would’ve crippled the finances of middle class families and small businesses.

Gov. McDonnell’s response to President Obama’s job creation policies hit home with great force:

Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much.

Last year, we were told that massive new federal spending would create more jobs ‘immediately’ and hold unemployment below 8%. In the past year, over three million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren.

The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten. The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household. This is simply unsustainable. The President’s partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one. The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level.

Without reform, the excessive growth of government threatens our very liberty and prosperity.

TRANSLATION: President Obama’s and the Democratic majority’s approach is totally wrong. That’s why we lost 3,000,000 jobs last year.

It’s refreshing to see, too, Gov. McDonnell rightly say that the fastest path to prosperity is to stop government from doing too much and by restoring government to its constitutional boundaries. In fact, Gov. McDonnell isn’t just right; he’s EXACTLY right about that.

This section might be the most disfunctional section of President Obama’s speech:

But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.

I am grateful to the House for passing such a bill last year. This year, I am eager to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate. I know there have been questions about whether we can afford such changes in a tough economy; and I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future, because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation.

First, let me say that I’ll applaud President Obama if he fights for building new nuclear power plants and opening up the OCS for oil and natural gas exploration. If President Obama is serious about those initiatives, I’ll gladly be his ally.

The test for President Obama on those initiatives will come when his leadership is needed to pass legislation that features robust oil exploration and creates the next generation of nuclear power plants.

I didn’t expect President Obama to give up on Cap and Trade. I’d just hoped he’d set that aside because it’s a jobkiller. That isn’t theory. It’s what President Obama said on the campaign trail:

What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there.

I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.

Why would a president, or any policymaker for that matter, want to pass legislation that will cause bankruptcies, especially with 10 percent unemployment, the highest it’s been in almost thirty years?

President Obama clearly isn’t interested in the message voters in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia sent him. He got humiliated by those defeats, yet he’s still defiant on health care:

I took on health care because of the stories I’ve heard from Americans with pre-existing conditions whose lives depend on getting coverage; patients who’ve been denied coverage; and families, even those with insurance, who are just one illness away from financial ruin.

After nearly a century of trying, we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans. The approach we’ve taken would protect every American from the worst practices of the insurance industry. It would give small businesses and uninsured Americans a chance to choose an affordable health care plan in a competitive market. It would require every insurance plan to cover preventive care. And by the way, I want to acknowledge our first lady, Michelle Obama, who this year is creating a national movement to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity and make kids healthier.

Our approach would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan. It would reduce costs and premiums for millions of families and businesses. And according to the Congressional Budget Office, the independent organization that both parties have cited as the official scorekeeper for Congress, our approach would bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next two decades.

First, the CBO thing is insulting. The Democrats’ legislation won’t lower deficits but it will raise taxes on middle class families and small businesses. The CBO, in fact, says that it won’t lower premiums or health care costs. The only legislation that meets that criteria is Paul Ryan’s Patients’ Choice Act.

Second, the Democrats’ plan wouldn’t “would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan.” In fact, the Democrats’ legislation would penalize people who bought HSAs.

Here’s how Gov. McDonnell addressed health care:

Republicans in Congress have offered legislation to reform healthcare, without shifting Medicaid costs to the states, without cutting Medicare, and without raising your taxes. We will do that by implementing common sense reforms, like letting families and businesses buy health insurance policies across state lines, and ending frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your healthcare.

And our solutions aren’t thousand-page bills that no one has fully read, after being crafted behind closed doors with special interests. In fact, many of our proposals are available online at solutions.gop.gov, and we welcome your ideas on Facebook and Twitter.

The differences between the Democrats’ legislation and the Republicans’ plan couldn’t be more stark. Republicans posted their plan on the internet months ago. The Democrats negotiated special deals with special interest groups behind closed doors in the White House. That’s why, to this day, we’re still not certain what’s in the Democrats’ bill.

A couple weeks ago, President Obama blustered that he was prepared to have a big fight with Republicans on health care. I suspect that that’s either putting the best spin he could on the issue or he’s really delusional enough to think that that’s a winning fight for Democrats. If I were a Republican and my Democratic opponent wanted a fight over health care, I’d love having that fight.

Finally, this post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning President Obama crossing the line when he criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United v. the FEC case:

But we can’t stop there. It’s time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my Administration or Congress. And it’s time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office. 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.

Justice Alito could be seen mouthing the words “not true” while President Obama was letting fly with this flourish. Democrats rallied to President Obama’s side:

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stood up behind the justices and clapped vigorously while Alito shook his head and quietly mouthed his discontent. Schumer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) are trying to find a way to legislate around the Supreme Court decision.

“All you have to do is read the dissent, the four justices who said this will defintely open the floodgates to big corporate special interests. Anybody who thinks that’s not true is out of touch with the American political process.” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen told POLITICO he expects to unveil the package in the next 10 days to two weeks.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was glad the president called out the Supreme Court.

“He [Alito] deserved to be criticized, if he didn’t like it he can mouth whatever they want,” Weiner said. “These Supreme Court justices sometimes forget that we live in the real world. They got a real world reminder tonight, if you make a boneheaded decision, someone’s going to call you out on it.”

Justice Alito wasn’t disagreeing that special interest groups would be able to speak their minds during election cycles. He was arguing against President Obama saying that the Supreme Court’s ruling would allow foreign corporations and “foreign entities” from contributing to candidates.

I’m surprised that Rep. Weiner would be this open about his disdain for the First Amendment. That’s what he’s saying. I’d further suggest that I don’t recall a point in history when a legislator “called out” a Supreme Court ruling this publicly.

This is the perfect illustration that Democrats still think the public is on their side. Neither President Obama’s speech nor Sen. Schumer’s or Rep. Weiner’s reaction suggests that they’re the least bit chastened after 3 humiliating defeats.

President Obama and congressional Democrats had the opportunity to pivot away from the lunatic left Wednesday night. Instead of breaking with them, it was like a married couple renewing their vows. If this is the face that the Democratic Party puts forward this fall, the word bloodbath will be associated with this election.

For all the praise President Obama gets for being a great orator, he certainly got his backside handed to him by Gov. McDonnell Wednesday night. Gov. McDonnell was charismatic and persuasive while President Obama sounded like the same broken record of the past 6 months.

Technorati Tags: SOTU, President Obama, Health Care, Jobs, Stimulus, Cap And Trade, Tax Increases, Chuck Schumer, Anthony Weiner, Democrats, Bob McDonnell, Republicans, SCOTUS, First Amendment, Election 2010

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 2:11 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Conservatism, Democrats, Economy, Election 2010, Energy, Health Care, Judiciary, Obama, Republicans, Special Interests, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.