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Matthew Hurt
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama gave his (hopefully) last State of the Union Address. His address, just like every other speech that comes out of his mouth, was full of nothing but broken promises, empty rhetoric and failed policies.
Honestly, what does this man really have to stand on at this point? Let me ask this: How many people out there can honestly say they are better off now than they were when Obama was first elected?
Despite a recent drop in unemployment rates, unemployment is still higher than when he first took office. Gas prices are higher, the federal debt is higher and the number of Americans living in poverty is higher. Home values, however, have lowered.
Near the beginning of the speech, Obama said the house of cards “collapsed” in 2008, referring to the economic crash. He pointed the finger at banks giving out loans that couldn’t be paid back. I get tired of saying this, but it was the likes of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank in Congress, both Democrats, who were telling banks to give out these bad loans.
Next Obama turned to colleges and universities by harping on them to raise tuition prices. Believe me, I think tuition is too high for students these days just as much as the next guy, but if colleges should have to live within their means, why shouldn’t the federal government? Of course I wish tuition prices were lower than they currently are, but I’m never a big fan of the pot calling the kettle black.
Soon, Obama ventured into my favorite topic in the entire speech: energy. He called on Congress to pass a clean energy standard that would require 80 percent of electricity to come from natural gas and renewable sources by 2035. Unfortunately, all I really heard were the words “cap and trade.”
The president’s original cap-and-trade bill from two years ago may be dead in the Senate, but he still seems adamant about the government stepping in and telling the energy companies what they can and cannot use to generate electricity. And once again, under his administration, the “free market” doesn’t seem so free anymore.
He could have at least warned Americans it would not be easy to make this transition, rather than just saying we must do this to save the world and the polar bears. Nearly half of this nation’s electricity currently comes from coal. An energy transition of the magnitude that he’s proposing would mean millions of lost jobs and higher energy rates — given the fact that coal is still the cheapest form of energy we have.
A version of this article appeared in the Jan 27 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Wow, Matthew Hurt, you are extremely ignorant if you believe that Barack Obama has anything to do with increasing gasoline prices, the decling housing market, rampant unemployment, or increasing debt.
Oil is a private industry. The oil market is controlled primarily by highly volatile countries and is strongly influenced by speculation on the open market. Speculation began long ago but was not as lucrative as it became in the 2000s when betting on oil futures became the hot commodity. Such rampant speculation in turn reduced the availability because oil companies held back their supply to continue to drive up costs. Neither Clinton, nor Bush, nor Obama had anything to do with oil speculation, so I would place the blame on the oil companies and ALL administrations for not ending this practice.
The housing bubble, like the tech bubble, was propped up by rampant inflation and over-valuation of the said commodity. The practice of creating a tech firm or flipping a house and selling it at a tremendous profit put such a signficant increase on market prices that the high end became oversaturated and the low end became relatively thin. Thus people were looking to buy houses outside their affordability and banks accepted these loan applications. This can be attributed to Clinton primarily, for allowing the banks to take on such risks. Obama has actually tried to alleviate these practices by allowing buyers and lenders to re-negotiate mortgages to get housing prices back to their true value.
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I take issue with the characterization of Mr. Obama's presidency as "stewardship of this nation."
Obama adviser, Valerie Jarrett, during the transition after the 2008 election, characterized Obama's assumption of the presidency as "to take power and begin to rule day one."
Mr. Obama does not see himself as a steward. He sees himself as a ruler. Here's the You Tube video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Nlq80DVpo
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I'm amazed at those that stand behind Obama still despite his record of failures. Sure he inherited a bad economy but what did he do to improve it? Nothing. Why vote for failure. Look at the debt, it's amazing he's requesting the debt ceiling to be raised once again!
He's running this country into the ground.
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It'll take at least 5 to 10 years to dig out of the hole the Republicans dug over 8 years of power. Take an economics class and rid yourself of the infantile "I WANT IT NOW" mindset.
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My favorite part was the entirely irrelevant and gratuitous misogyny!
"Asking Obama to take responsibility for a bad economic policy is like asking Nancy Pelosi to stop seeing her plastic surgeon."
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Irrelevant? Yes.
Misogynistic no.
Funny? Most definitely.
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Irrelevant? Yes.
Misogynistic no.
Funny? Most definitely.
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Irrelevant? Yes.
Misogynistic no.
Funny? Most definitely.
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Irrelevant? Yes.
Misogynistic no.
Funny? Most definitely.
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I am a Ron Paul supporter. This election season, no candidate will get my vote for the Office of President of the United States of America except for Ron Paul. There will be no exceptions. If he does not win the nomination, I will write his name on the ballot.
No amount of slick talking, flip-flopping, wooing, cajoling, threatening, or condescending will persuade... me to vote for any other contender for that office.
You don't want to admit it, but you know that the Republican Party cannot beat Obama without me, a Ron Paul supporter. It's long past time you admit it.
You and I have conflicting goals. I will only cast a vote for liberty, for peace, for small government, for fiscal sanity and respect for the Constitution of the United States and adherence to the oath of office of the Presidency. You however are content merely to vote for whatever Republican the GOP leadership and the media approve of.
I will not move. I cannot be persuaded. You cannot win without me.
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I am not here to convince you that Ron Paul's positions are superior. I am not here to convince you that his foreign policy is in line with traditional conservatism. I am not here to convince you that his understanding of economics put everyone else in Washington to shame. I am not even here to convince you that the positions of the other candidates are not materially different than Obama.
No, I don't need to do any of that. I only need to tell you that without me, you have lost. If you do not vote for Ron Paul in your Primary or Caucus, you are already defeated. If you fail to nominate Ron Paul to be the Republican candidate for President, Barack Hussein Obama will serve a second term.
This is not blackmail. This is not a threat. This is a simple statement of fact.
I stand firm and I will not accept anything less. You have been warned.
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