State of the Union speech addressed no real issues
President Barack Obama was supposed to deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night. It would appear, however, that candidate Obama delivered the speech instead.
In 2008, candidate Obama spoke at rallies about bringing the troops home and ending the wars in the Middle East. In 2014, Obama spoke in Congress about bringing the troops home and ending the wars in the Middle East. Between those years, president Obama doubled the total number of troops deployed in Afghanistan.
President Obama did follow through on candidate Obama’s promise to withdraw from Iraq (although the actual withdrawl was three times longer than the 16 months he campaigned on), but he then turned around and engaged the United States in conflicts in Pakistan and Libya. President Obama also attempted to put U.S. troops on the ground in late 2013, but he was thwarted by Congress.
Candidate Obama ran for office in 2008 speaking of a health care revamp that would allow millions of Americans to gain inexpensive, quality insurance, while simultaneously allowing those who liked their current coverage to keep it. Obama this year spoke of a health care revamp that will allow millions of Americans to gain inexpensive, quality insurance.
In the meantime, president Obama’s Affordable Care Act cost almost 5 million Americans their insurance plans. Many of the individuals that Tuesday night’s Obama talked about signing up for insurance through his Affordable Care Act are individuals who were kicked out of their plans by the Affordable Care Act.
Candidate Obama said in 2007, “The separation of powers works. Our Constitution works. We will again set an example to the world that the law is not subject to the whim of stubborn rulers.” President Obama in 2014 said, “We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help that they need. I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions.”
Candidate Obama said, “This (George W. Bush) administration presents a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide.” President Obama countered, “You can’t have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy. … We’re going to have to make some choices as a society.”
Candidate Obama then urged Bush to “track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. … No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are.” President Obama defends the PRISM surveillance program and the mass mining of the metadata of American citizens who aren’t even connected to a crime.
Obama did not mention at all in his State of the Union address any of the shortcomings of president Obama’s administration — things like the Benghazi scandal, the HealthCare.gov rollout debacle and the almost $7 trillion that he’s added to the national debt.
I guess president Obama didn’t have time catch candidate Obama up on what he’s missed since 2008.
This year’s State of the Union address certainly didn’t answer any questions, but it did create one very important one: Which Obama will serve the rest of this term, candidate or president?