Holding Our Applause for the State of the Union

GM,

President Obama gave his second (though first "official") State of the Union address last night, and it reminded me how we managed to elect the guy. Forget content or feasibility for a moment. The speech sounded great. He didn't at all look like a president whose popularity had plummeted. In fact, the number of times he went through his "Smirk, Wait, and Smile" routine was staggering. The SWS occurs when the president is most proud of himself. He reels off a clever remark, smirks as the audience processes the level of sarcasm or folksiness on display, waits for applause or laughter, and smiles as if he's as tickled as everyone else is. Hey, it's better than the George W. Bush "Act like you're completely clueless" expression.

In other observations, Harry Reid yawned during his cut-away, Ruth Bader Ginsburg somehow looked decrepit and sharp, and Nancy Pelosi acted like it was all she could do not to jump the desk and begin humping the president!

But the speech included several points worth mentioning, and the world needs your take.

1. "I'm proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I am also proposing a new small business tax credit--one that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages. . . . Let's also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment."

A typical American might say: That sounds pretty good. If big business gets bailed out, then small business should too.

2. "Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will."

Typical American: It's about time the government stopped spending so much. Like the president said, I'm on a tight budget. Why shouldn't the federal government be?!

3. After bragging about all the tax cuts, Democrats applauded vigorously while Republicans remained quiet and seated. Obama's (seemingly) impromptu response was: "I thought I'd get some applause on that one."

Typical American: Why wouldn't they applaud? I thought Republicans were all about tax cuts. Is it because they wanted more tax cuts for the wealthy and none for everyone else?! Those bastards!

4. "I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change."

Typical American: Touche, Mr. President! You're too witty.

5. "Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. . . . Let's tell another one million students that, when they graduate, they will be required to pay only 10% of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after twenty years, and forgiven after ten years if they choose a career in public service."

Typical American: Perfect! If everyone has a college degree, there can be no more poverty.

-JW

JW,

Unlike you, I spent Wednesday evening ignoring the President's speech. Why watch when the transcript is available online even before the speech is over? Who's got time to sit through all that applause? Fully rested and refreshed, I'm ready to attack this monstrosity. Let's take it point by point.

The TARP Repayment

Not only the national debt but the yearly budget deficit is a multi-trillion dollar entity these days. I mention this because we needn't have any confusion over the source of the bailout money Obama now promises to funnel into even more government projects. Either we printed the money or we borrowed it from China. In either case, it doesn't exist in any meaningful sense of the word, and the only proper destination for the repaid funds is a steamer bound for Beijing or an armored car bound for the incinerators. To spend the money--my hands are shaking, this pisses me off so badly--is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. Obama knows this. That's why he's proposing a cut in some capital gains taxes. He would never propose an idea that "regressive" if he weren't trying to get away with something.

The Spending Freeze

George Will calls it a "flagrant falsehood." The Associated Press reports, "The anticipated savings from this proposal would amount to less than one percent of the [annual budget] deficit--and that's if the president can persuade Congress to go along." Politicians and commentators like to throw around the word "cynical," but Obama's strategy--say what you know to be untrue and count on your personality and the credulity of voters to protect you--is practically its dictionary definition.

Take four minutes and listen to Bill Adair of the Pulitzer Prize-winning, non-partisan, fact-checking website Politifact.com. In his NPR interview, he states that Politifact's exploration of seven Obama claims produced only one "true" rating. Good times.

The Tax Cuts

This was the one "true" claim that Obama made, according to Politifact.com. Yes, he did use the 2nd Stimulus Package (Bush's was the first; the upcoming "jobs bill" will be the third) to give some tax break to a large majority of Americans. For political reasons, Republicans probably should have applauded. They're probably thinking about the future, though, when the bill will come due. It's not far off.

Climate Change

Don't you just love that smarty-pants line about "overwhelming scientific evidence"? If it's overwhelming, the cause is in large measure the censorship of competing data by a "scientific" community that joins Obama in his disdain for profit. F--k them. Whether or not man-made climate change is happening, the steps required to combat it cannot be achieved by the nations of this world as they are currently constituted. (Here's George Will again--sue me; I love the guy.)

Loan Forgiveness

The high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. Great. Let's do the same thing to the college diploma by educating every deadbeat in America.

The primary economic fact is scarcity. The secondary economic fact is that when you start screwing with lenders' ability--even government lenders--to recoup loans, you change who they loan to. I look forward to a world in which poor people can't go to school because of the government's attempts to make lending "fair."

-GM