On February 12, 2013 President Barack Hussein Obama gave the first state of the union address of his second term.  Here are a few excerpts from that speech and my thoughts on each.

The President said "It is-it is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country, the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like or who you love."  First of all why can't this president and his administration follow their own recipe for success: "Working hard and meeting your responsibilities".  And lastly, as for his closing sentence stating that "you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like or who you love", I have to ask like Tina Turner sang "WHATS LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?".

The President said "The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party."  I think that this president shows every time he speaks just how disconnected from the American public he really is. We DO expect the Government to solve every problem THEY CREATE!  We DO expect for those in that chamber he mentioned to agree on every issue, and to conduct themselves like the professionals they all claim to be!

The President said "Our work must begin by making some basic decisions about our budget, decisions that will have a huge impact on the strength of our recovery. Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances."  The key point here is that all this talk about spending cuts and tax hikes to close the deficit is basically just fantasy!  History is pretty clear on how you reduce the deficit: Get growth, and reduce unemployment.  Not by jumping on your Presidential jet the day after your state-of-the-union address to go out and do more "campaigning" to sell your "ideas" to the American people.  How about just staying there in Washington for awhile and WORKING ON THE PROBLEMS WE FACE??

The President also said "In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness, they would devastate priorities like education and energy and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. And that is why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts -- known here in Washington as “the sequester” -- are a really bad idea."  Woodward summarizes the thoughts of the Obama team: "There would be no chance the Republicans would want to pull the trigger and allow the sequester to force massive cuts to Defense." Democrats, meanwhile, didn’t want to see their favorite domestic programs cut. Whose idea was it in the first place?  Some of the most detailed reporting on sequestration is from Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward and his book THE PRICE OF POLITICS.  Woodward's reputation shows clearly that defense sequestration was an idea that came out of Obama's Whitehouse. So why then did the President portray it as a Republican idea?  

On the topic of "favored Democratic programs" the President said "Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms. Otherwise, our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations."  Yes, generations that his administration has pilfered billions from and whose future is anything but secure.

The President then said (going in order) "Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs." Except that a friend of mine just told me that because of the Affordable Health care law his company just said that part timers can only work 25 hrs because if they work 29 or more, their company is compelled to give them health care, and if they failed to do so, they get fined $250K a day.  Affordable Health care?  Not really?  More like forced health care...and this is what a vote for Obama did for you in 2008.  Happy?

Read more of the Presidents speech here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/state-of-the-union-2013-president-obamas-address-to-congress-transcript/2013/02/12/d429b574-7574-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story_1.html

And then leave your thoughts below.....