|
Author
|
Topic: Some really good nuggets
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted January 26, 2015 08:55 AM
JANUARY 23, 2015 12:00 AM
A Tedious, Recycled State of the Union
Six years later, Obama’s still reading from the same tired script.
Jonah Goldberg
It’s hard to believe that was only President Obama’s sixth State of the Union address. It feels like he’s given so many more. Maybe that’s because the man seems to be constantly talking. And talking. The talking is the background noise of much of the last decade, auditory wallpaper that seems to line the corridors of everyday life.
And when he talks, he’s often talking about himself — particularly about things he’s said on other occasions when he was talking. Like many liberals today, Obama has a particular weakness for the logical fallacy known as the argument from authority, and you know he is about to invoke his favorite authority when he begins a sentence, “As I said before.” As if there are large swaths of people who say, “Oh, he said it before, so it must be true.”
Indeed, in this week’s State of the Union address, which drew the lowest TV ratings in 15 years, he dedicated the climax to quoting himself from ten years ago. For those of us paying attention — and there aren’t many of us left — it was a tedious trip down memory lane. Once more we got to hear how he believes there isn’t “a liberal America or a conservative America, a black America or a white America, but a United States of America.” Blah, blah, blah and, as I said before, blah.
Once again, we heard how much he hates cynicism and partisanship, defining cynicism and partisanship in his own special way: disagreement with Barack Obama. The president denies this, of course. He said Tuesday night: “Understand, a better politics isn’t one where Democrats abandon their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine.” But if the president actually believed that, he would have governed that way when his party had total control of Congress.
And yet, prior to the great “shellacking” of 2010, Obama governed as if the Republicans were at best a nuisance. When Republicans expressed concern over the partisan nature of the stimulus, he responded, “I won.”
“We don’t mind Republicans joining us,” he said on another occasion, with all the magnanimity he could muster. “They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back.” On his health-care bill, the time for debate was always over — when he had the votes.
And when Republicans had a historic victory in the 2014 midterms, largely by running against Obama and his record, the president responded by unilaterally sidestepping Congress on every issue he could, from Cuba and Iran to carbon-emissions standards and immigration.
This is Obama’s real understanding of “bipartisanship”; it is a political hack’s cudgel to unleash on your opponents, not a tool for governing. Diplomacy, Will Rogers once said, is the art of saying “nice doggie” until you can find a rock. Obama has a similar definition for gassy sound bites about cynicism.
His admirers see his speeches as ornate cathedrals of rhetoric when they are more like the kitsch from a TGI Friday’s, recycling old license plates and “gone fishin’” signs for that “authentic” feel. And just as every TGI Friday’s pretends it’s unique by adding a few bits of “flair” to the servers’ suspenders, what they dish out is always the same warmed-over swill drenched in cheesiness. So it is with Obama’s speeches.
Likewise with his policies. Before the financial crisis, Obama ran on “investing” in education, health care, renewable energy, infrastructure, and so on. After the financial crisis hit, presumably our needs changed, but not Obama’s agenda. Suddenly, what America needed to do to respond to the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression was to again “invest” in education, health care, renewable energy, and infrastructure. And now that the “shadow of crisis has passed,” as he announced on Tuesday, the same investments are needed. Why? Because he said it before, of course.
The same holds true with his foreign-policy agenda. As a candidate, Obama vowed that we needed to pull back from the War on Terror. After the rise of the Islamic State and the metastasizing of jihadist terror around the world, we must stay the course. Even when events deviate from the president’s well-worn script, what matters is that the script never change so Obama can keep talking and talking and talking.
— Jonah Goldberg is a senior editor of National Review and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
[ January 26, 2015, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31450 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
|
posted January 26, 2015 11:33 AM
I'm actually beginning to like o bama.
He has single handedly done more to destroy the democratic party than all of the Republicans since Regan combined.
Other than that, he's a total failure as a carbon based life form.
--------------------
And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7577 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted January 26, 2015 12:12 PM
Yes, but is that any reason for some Republicans to be "disrespectful"? I'm sure he can think of no reason why everybody attending the SOTU speech should not have fallen on their knees in adulation. Rhetoric like "the shadow of crisis" don't just drop from the sky. When he so eloquently turns a phrase like that, Nancy Pelosi is sitting in wet underwear for the rest of the night.
All kidding aside, that bastard is so far off in outer space, and his handlers are afraid to tell him he has no clothes on. It would be really tragic if Air Force One went down in flames, but he survived.
Good hunting. El Bee
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31450 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
MI VHNTR
I'm not shaving 'til Obama's gone!
Member # 3370
|
posted January 26, 2015 06:02 PM
If zero has done damage to the democRATS, it's not too visible. There are still idi0ts that think that zero is doing a fine job. They say just look at the "free" health care, "free" college and lower gas prices.
The clueless ba*tards haven't figured out who has to pay for all of the "free" stuff yet. Even after they see what it costs, they'll blame Bush for it.
--------------------
The Second Amendment isn't about Hunting. It's about Freedom.
FJB Let's Go Brandon
Posts: 394 | From: MI | Registered: Dec 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Prune Picker
AR Forum Assistant Moderator-handgun GURU and dispenser of sage advice
Member # 4107
|
posted January 26, 2015 06:57 PM
While watching "Special Report with Bret Baier", a week or so ago I watched Goldberg come unglued over ohbamama and his pack of stooges taking credit for the low gas prices & the alleged recovery of the economy. Goldberg is pretty sharp and worth listening to. Seems like Charles Krauthammer seems to mentor him, overall they are 2 of my 3 favorites on the air along with Megan.
--------------------
mike
Posts: 1265 | From: "Oklahomie" | Registered: Mar 2012
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
|
posted January 27, 2015 03:01 AM
True, there are those who would continue to adore and defend o bama even if he were to be caught in bed with Michael Jackson's body.
And, the democratic senators and congressmen refuse to see the light because to do so would be to admit that their entire lives have been a lie.
However;
The turning point was the mid-term elections. From this point on o bama can only implode revealing himself to be a petty, clueless community organizer who is in WAY over his head.
Right now, the 2016 contenders (Dem.) are only concerned with how they can distance themselves from THE ONE.
The Reb. contenders smell blood in the water and are schooling like sharks.
I'd still like to see a Romney / Krauthammer ticket. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
--------------------
And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7577 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lone Howl
Free Trial Platinum Member & part-time language police
Member # 29
|
posted January 27, 2015 08:03 AM
I think Id like to see Bobby Jindal run.
--------------------
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.
Posts: 2083 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted January 27, 2015 09:11 AM
quote:
While watching "Special Report with Bret Baier", a week or so ago I watched Goldberg come unglued over ohbamama and his pack of stooges taking credit for the low gas prices & the alleged recovery of the economy. Goldberg is pretty sharp and worth listening to. Seems like Charles Krauthammer seems to mentor him, overall they are 2 of my 3 favorites on the air along with Megan.
Just happened to think. There are a few I love to listen to. Bernard Goldberg, Steve Hayes, Mark Stein and (read) the black guy on National Review, can't think of his name?
edit: his name is Thomas Sowell and he writes for Townhall.
Good hunting. El Bee
[ January 27, 2015, 11:04 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31450 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
