To paraphrase the campaign phrase of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, it's still the lack of jobs and excessive spending, stupid!
You can hardly read anything about politics these days without having Obama's so-called pivot thrown in your face. Obama's virtual turn on a dime is so far nothing more than a serious spin effort. It seeks to capitalize upon Obama's Tucson moment and try to appear as though he is "pivoting" away from his deeply held extreme far left views under which Obama governed for two years.
The effort to convince voters that Obama is pivoting away from his two-year effort to lurch the country far to the left is the result of the voters' repudiation of the Obama agenda. The repudiation is irrefutable. In three nationalized elections, the Obamacrats successively lost the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, the Massachusetts's Senate seat the left wing long-thought belonged to the Kennedy family, and the Pelosi led House of Representatives in. Even a president as obstinate as Obama finally came to realize that even he has to "deal with the world as we find it."
In last year's State of the Union, President Obama promised to focus on jobs:
That is why jobs must be our number one focus in 2010, and that is why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight.
On New Years Day Obama again resolved to focus on jobs:
As President, that’s my commitment to you: to do everything I can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening our middle class. That’s my resolution for the coming year.
By all accounts in tonight's State of the Union address Obama will once again, declare that his top priority will be jobs.
Unfortunately, Obama appears to suffer from attention deficit disorder. At least he does with regard to his promises to focus on jobs. Even Democratic National Committee Chair Kaine admits Obama was too busy with wars and ObamaCare to focus on American jobs.
We also have reason to believe that Obama's failed promise to focus on jobs will not be the only theme he recycles in tonight's speech. The main stream media is replete with articles highlighting the expectation that Obama will also recycle his woefully inadequate proposal to freeze a relatively small portion of the federal government's spending:
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: “The Move Is Almost Identical To The Freeze Obama Called For In His Address To The Nation Last Year At This Time — His Current Proposal Would Cover Five Years, Not Three Years — And Ultimately It May Have Little Effect.” (“Obama To Call For Nonsecurity Spending Freeze,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/25/11)
- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: “The Freeze Won't Touch Some Of The Budget's Biggest Items, such as Medicare, Social Security and defense spending, nor will it apply to homeland-security spending or foreign aid.” ... “The President's Plan Would Save About $26 Billion Over Five Years, According To The White House Budget Proposal For The Current Fiscal Year. Those Savings Would Be Dwarfed By The $100 Billion In Cuts For This Year Alone That Many House Republicans Are Pushing.” (“Obama To Call For Nonsecurity Spending Freeze,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/25/11)
- THE NEW YORK TIMES: “Those Exempted Areas Include Most Of The Federal Budget, Including The Biggest And Fastest-Growing Spending Categories like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and national security, along with interest payments on the nation’s debt.” (“Obama To Seek Partial Freeze In Spending As Deficit Move,” The New York Times, 1/25/11)
- REUTERS: “A Freeze On That Type Of Spending Would Not Apply To The Huge Entitlement Programs -- Such As Social Security And Medicare -- At The Heart Of America's Deficit Problem.” (“Obama To Propose Spending Freeze But Can't Avoid Fight,” Reuters, 1/25/11)
- THE WASHINGTON POST: “To A Striking Degree, Obama Appears Poised To Recycle Themes And Ideas He Has Offered Many Times Before. He will address ‘investments’ in education, infrastructure and energy innovation in the speech - three ideas he first started discussing as far back as his first address to Congress in 2009. That same year, he banned earmarks from his big economic stimulus bill; Tuesday night, he will call for an earmark ban budget-wide. He will talk about the need to emphasize creating jobs above all else - just as he did last year, when he said ‘jobs must be our number one focus in 2010.’ And when he raises a $78 billion defense savings proposal, it will be one that has already been given a full public airing by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, administration officials said.” ... “On The Economy, Obama Is Expected To Make No Effort To Break Ground In The One Area He Has Repeatedly Called A Critical Focus: Deficit Reduction. More than two months after his bipartisan deficit commission first unveiled a blueprint for reining in the national debt, Obama has yet to take a position on it, and administration officials say he will not do so in his address.” (“Obama To Propose Five-Year Spending Freeze In State Of The Union Address,” The Washington Post, 1/25/11)
There is not a whole lot more to be said about Obama's recycled promises to focus on jobs and to freeze some federal spending except to recal that old saying, fool me once ...
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