State of the Union . . . WTF?

It was an interesting State of the Union speech tonight . . .
Wrap things in the American Flag, throw in our great military men & women, and add some things about unity and greatness . . . we must be doing pretty damn good right now.

I'll probably blog about it but let's see . . . 3 years of promises, out of control spending on borrowed dollars, massive unemployment . . .

I thought it was a fairly confrontational speech going after the partisan other side.  It made a direct reference to Mitt Romney’s 15% taxes and used the charisma of his speaking abilities to ask American for a second chance.  It seemed like he was saying I have for the most part pissed away the last three years but hey look, the economy might be in a small rebound so give it another look. 

I am sure the young will get all worked up in the same vein that John Kennedy’s speaking did for a nation so many years ago.  The problem is that time period is long gone and the world is so much different now.

The shovel ready projects that were supposed to kick start the economy did not do it except on a small scale.  The “Cash for Clunkers” did nothing except take better built vehicles off to the scrap heaps and put more foreign made cars on the roads of America.

America's political parties have grown more polarized.  The “good old boys” in Washington are not playing well together on many fronts and those that want to downsize government are stopped in their tracks with ever expanding social programs.  Democrats have moved somewhat to the left; Republicans have shifted many steps to the right as the data shows from political scientists who have analyzed congressional votes, issues positions and polling data.

I liked the contradiction of: “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy.”  This comes on the rejection of the pipeline across the U.S. which would have created thousands of jobs, helped the economy for many areas of the country.  The same can be said about Alaska’s oil and gas and the massive amounts still in the ground here and just off shore.  This administration talks a good game but has not moved forward in relieving our energy crisis in this country.  Gas prices in Alaska where we have all this natural resource is still hovering around $ 4 a gallon for unleaded and almost $ 7 in many of the villages I travel too around the state.

He ended the speech as it started . . . the military and its mission.  They stay focused on the task and let the differences between people and personalities fall to the wayside while they accomplish the goal.

Honorable thoughts but it comes at a time when we were promised so much more but turned into another lackluster follow through on what was promised but never delivered.

Many things sounded so good but that is just a credit to his oration skills, what the reality is the each of us is a failing economy, mortgage market in ruins, banks bailed out with our money (and no one going to jail in either of those debacles), a dwindling retirement program and a society lost without the true leadership from all party affiliations.

I want to believe that things are getting better but wrapping it up in the American Flag and our selfless military is just another smoke and mirrors to reality.

My rating on the speech . . . it sounded good, made us feel good about some things (military), made more promises yet to be delivered and sounded like more of the same big spending what we don’t have, more give away programs keeping people from getting off their ass and working at anything to bring in a paycheck and made not real effort for non partisan politics.

It sounded all right but like my silent farts . . . once you look around once you get a whiff you go, “what that hell is that?”

Ice