Rebuttal to the SOU

The hapless Republicans, via Mitch Daniels, will give a rebuttal. The hapless Occupy-istas will give a rebuttal. Even Herman Cain will try. So, I will only hit a few highlights, bu the president seems ever his own greatest fan.

"The economy produced 3 million jobs this year."

Unemployment and inflation, the misery index, is sky high. Even if true, which it is not, it would be a blip on the ever downward spiral. Unemployment, never a real issue under four previous presidents, has never cracked 8 percent, has mostly hovered between 9 and 10. Why 8 percent? Because that is the number that the president himself set as the limit if we were to give him a stimulus package to spend as he pleased in 2009. This is not entirely the president's fault. But his response is. He has consistently been absent with ideas to recover the economy. His stimulus package did nothing. His best attempt was more of same, a jobs bill that amounted to the same solution that did not work in 2009. You remember, when he had his own flavor in both houses of congress, and could do as he pleased. His solution was to blame the other party for defeating a trimmed down version of the plan that he had already passed, and that had already failed. His justification? It would have been worse without the stimulus. That is a bit like saying that the parachute never opened, but it would have been worse without the parachute. Skydiving without a parachute was never an option. Doing nothing about the economy was never an option. Chutzpah, 99.44% pure.

He has never submitted his own budget. He never offered a comprehensive plan during the debt crisis. He merely blamed his opponents and ridiculed and vetoed their plan. He never said what he would accept. He merely threw out broad vague requirements, like not accepting any plan that did not raise taxes. Compare his response to his predecessors. They all submitted budgets. They all submitted positions for congress to debate. This president merely stayed out of it and yelled that somebody better do something.

Inflation, gone for the last 20 years, has arrived with a vengeance. The dollar is trashed. Gold and silver, hedges against a falling dollar, are at record highs, 300% plus, just as they were when Carter trashed our currency.

"Osama is no longer a threat. The Iraq war is over. Taliban is on the run. Etc."

Do you mean to "flaunt" your foreign policy achievements? Do you remember how you were going to win back allies in the Middle East through friendship? Do you remember how you were going to win over Iran by offering friendship, instead of "belligerence", to keep Iran from threatening us and the world. Under your careful leadership, we have gained a total of zero allies in the Middle east. We have however lost or severely degraded relationships with Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Emirates. Our untrustworthy posture directly fed Turkey's decision in 2009 to attempt to join Iran by concocting the ruse of baiting the Israeli blockade of Gaza. We did little or nothing to stop them or even rebuke them. We actually supported the removal of an American ally, albeit a ruthless dictator, and replaced him with the Muslim brotherhood. They have sworn to undo the 1979 treaty and we have done zero to stop them. We helped them into power. We allowed them to break down the border with Gaza and open it to smuggling. We did nothing to stop the Iranians crossing the Suez canal. We also supported the overthrow of a contained dictator in Libya, and replaced him with anti US Muslim zealots. We allowed Lebanon to be inundated by Hizbollah and Syrian forces.

Under our careful containment, Iraq is in near anarchy. But the crown achievement, Iran is technically prepared and political driven to produce its own nuclear weapons. Its latest brazen threat is to close the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic, holding the world hostage. The US has made little convincing move toward defending the shipping. We have not made any clear statement to convince them that it would fail, nor have we built a large international alliance to keep the Strait open militarily. The Iranians are convinced they can beat us, because we have no resolve to defend our interests.

Israel has stuck with this administration to the end, only to finally lose faith as we are twiddling our thumbs while Iran grows strong. They and the Saudis have both explored "going it alone in Iran" if the US will not move on Iran. North Korea is unknown. We have made no effort to contain the new leader before or after the death of Kim Jung Il.

Your domestic policy, whether stewarded by Democrats in Congress or opposed by Republicans in congress, has been a disaster. Oil prices are sky high, almost double what they were in January of 2009. Prices are up more quickly and unemployment is the highest it has been since the Carter years. Your rudderless foreign policy has lost us allies, replacing them with Muslim extremists, won us no other allies, allowed Iran to become nuclear, led our desperate remaining allies to near panic, and allowed a brazen Iran to guide the world to the brink of war without fear.

If this were a report card, there is only one reason he would get an F. Because there is no G.