CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Obama's dithering doomed the attempt to rescue Foley

Toby Harnden, the Washington bureau chief of The Sunday Times, reports thatObama's dithering doomed the U.S. military's attempt to rescue James Foley:

It was shortly after midnight on the Fourth of July when the specially modified Black Hawk helicopters fitted with radar-evading equipment swooped down over Ukayrishah, a small town next to the Euphrates River, close to the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.

Flown by pilots from the US 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — known as the “Night Stalkers” — the Black Hawks’ first job was to destroy a jihadist anti-aircraft battery three miles away. But their main role was to drop several dozen elite troops from Delta Force and SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, into the heart of territory controlled by Isis, or the Islamic State.

Syrian radar had been jammed and fighter jets were patrolling overhead as the commandos blocked access roads. The troops moved swiftly towards their objective: an abandoned oil refinery used as a military post and known as the Akershi base.

The CIA had concluded that the base contained a secret prison in which a number of western hostages were languishing.

James Foley, 40, an idealistic freelance journalist from New Hampshire who had once been kidnapped in Libya and held for 44 days, was thought to be among them.

When the commandos reached the base, scores of Isis fighters swarmed out. A US air force AC-130 gunship laid down a wall of fire, killing up to 15 of the jihadists.

According to locals, some of the commandos were wearing Jordanian insignia, perhaps to mask their nationality. They entered the buildings and found the prison. But the hostages were not there. The special forces troops had found what they term a “dry hole”.

The operation was reminiscent of the 1970 mission to free American prisoners of war from North Vietnam’s Son Tay prison camp. It was flawlessly executed but the North Vietnamese had moved the prisoners a day earlier.

For President Barack Obama the decision to send in the Night Stalkers was an agonising one. 

[. . .]

Pentagon sources said Foley and the others might well have been rescued but Obama, concerned about the ramifications of US troops being killed or captured in Syria, took too long to authorise the mission.

Anthony Shaffer, a former lieutenant-colonel in US military intelligence who worked on covert operations, said: “I’m told it was almost a 30-day delay from when they said they wanted to go to when he finally gave the green light. They were ready to go in June to grab the guy [Foley] and they weren’t permitted.”

Another US defence source said: "The White House constantly goes back and forth on these things. These people are a bunch of academics who endlessly analyse stuff and ordering up another deep-thinking paper but can't decide what to order for lunch."

[Emphasis added]

My RedState colleagues, Jake and Streiff have covered the objections to the Obama regime's revelation about the failed rescue attempt here and here. And I wrote that Obama, was let the information become public so it might appear that he was doing something besides fund raising and golfing. 

We have complained about Obama's dithering before. We took Obama to task twice for his indecisive dithering about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight what he correctly called a "war of necessity." First, for golfing instead of making a decision. And then, after more than two months of dithering, for putting his decision off until after Thanksgiving.

We even started warning about Obama's perceived weakness two moths into his presidency. 

Obama is the worst President since World War II

That legacy thing isn't working out so good for President Obama.

A new Quinnipiac poll finds that voters now say Obama is the worst president since World War II.

Obama is less popular than President George W. Bush. Voters, by a 45 to 38 percent margin, say the country would be better off if Mitt Romney had won the 2012 presidential election.

Ronald Reagan is considered the best president since WWII. It isn't even close. Reagan was selected by 35 percent. President Clinton came in second with only 18 percent. 

It seems Obama's incompetence has finally caught up with him. Quinnipiac found that 54 percent say the "Obama Administration is not competent running the government." It was inevitable that after all his failures and inability to accomplish anything, Obama's incompetence would finally overcome all his deceit and deception.

A majority disapprove of Obama's handling the economy (55 percent), the most important issue to the respondents. A majority say Obama does not have strong leadership qualities. A majority also disapprove of Obama's handling of his job as President, foreign policy, health care and terrorism. No wonder that Gallup reports that Since June 2013, Americans confidence in the presidency has fallen seven percentage points.

And finally 55 percent disapprove of ObamaCare -- Obama's so-called signature achievement.

The Quinnipiac poll findings are consistent with other polling showing Obama's falling out with America. 

There was the Fox News Poll that found a majority think the Obama administration "knowingly lied" about the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya "to help the President Obama during his re-election campaign" against Mitt Romney. And there was also the CNN/ORC poll that found 53 percent believe that President Obama is "not honest and trustworthy."

Majority believe Obama policies will fail

A new CNN/ORC poll released Monday, found that a majority of Americans -- 56 percent, now think Obama's policies are likely to fail in coming years. According to the new CNN poll, only 37 percent think Obama's policies will succeed will succeed.

The finding is a reversal from a year ago when CNN polling found 54 percent that President Obama's policies would succeed, while 39 percent thought they would fail. 

This is the result of Obama's governing incompetence being so clearly highlighted by the continuing ObamaCare implementation train wreck. 

This terrible news for Obama follows the recent Washington Post-ABC News poll that found that only 37 percent of Americans are confident that President Obama will make the right decisions for the country’s future, while 63 percent are not. And the CNN/ORC poll that found 53 percent of Americans believe that President Obama is "not honest and trustworthy." And another CNN poll that found that even the Obama base is turning against ObamaCare.

These awful poll results are also influenced by Obama's "broken ObamaCare promises," one of which earned him a lie of the year award. You can watch a compilation of Obama's broken ObamaCare promises in the following video:

In Super Bowl Interview Obama backs away from fundamentally transforming America

Image credit: FoxNews 

"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." — Barack Obama, October 30, 2008

In his Super Bowl Interview with Bill O'Reilly yesterday, President Obama finally backed away from his infamously radically extreme comment about "fundamentally transforming the United States of America. In an exchange at the end of the interview Obama denied that he thinks "we" have to fundamentally America:

O'REILLY: "Mr. President, why do you feel it's necessary to fundamentally transform the nation that has afforded you so much opportunity and success?"

OBAMA: I don't think we have to fundamentally transform the nation...

O'REILLY: But those are your words.

OBAMA: I think that what we have to do is make sure that here in America, if you work hard, you can get ahead. Bill, you and I benefitted from this incredible country of ours, in part, because there were good jobs out there that paid a good wage, because you had public schools that functioned well, that we could get scholarships if we didn't come from a wealthy family, in order to go to college.

O'REILLY: Right.

OBAMA: That, you know, if you worked hard, not only did you have a good job, but you also had decent benefits, decent health care...

O'REILLY: They're cutting me off...

OBAMA: -- and for a lot of folks, we don't have that. We've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to expand the middle class...

O'REILLY: All right...

OBAMA: -- and work hard and people who are working hard can get into the middle class.

You can watch the exchange in the following video, beginning at the 8:43 mark:

So why would Obama, after five years, finally back away from his radical fundamentally changing America remark?

Has he decided, as George Will suggested Obama should in his excellent 2012 "Obama: the real radical" column,  to finally take a "first step toward accommodation with a country increasingly concerned about his unmasked determination to 'transform' what the Founders considered 'fundamentals?'"

Or, as I think more likely, has Obama surveyed the fundamental transformation he has already wreaked, considered the 2014 political outlook and decided his radicalism has gone as far as it now can?

In that October 1, 2013, "Obama: Transforming America" column linked above, Victor Davis Hanson discusses how much Obama has succeeded in transforming the United States in many areas including:

• Federal Spending;
• Taxes and Debt;
• Health Care;
• Interest Rates;
• The Presidency, with regard to scandals -- the Benghazi Deception, the IRS Scandal, the NSA Disclosures, the AP Monitoring and Fast and Furious;
• Politics;
• Energy;
• Race;
• Illegal Immigration;
• Foreign policy; and 
• Guns.

O'Reilly's interview has been called tense and contentious.  I didn't see it that way. What I saw was a well-prepared Obama smoothly pivoting on every question to his talking points. He made O'Reilly look bad. 

On the ObamaCare roll out train wreck: 

OBAMA: Well, I think we all anticipated there would be glitches, because any time you've got technology, a new program rolling out, there are going to be some glitches. I don't think I anticipated or anybody anticipated the degree of the problems with the Web site. And...

On not firing Kathleen Sebelius:

OBAMA: Yes, well, I -- I promise you that we hold everybody up and down the line accountable. But when we're...

And that was after several talking points putting a positive spin on ObamaCare's horrendous numbers.

On the political lie of the year, Obama's oft repeated, if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance:

OBAMA: -- you were very generous in saying I look pretty good considering I've been in the presidency for five years. And I think part of the reason is, I try to focus not on the fumbles, but on the next plan.

O'Reilly tried the hardest on Benghazi. If any part of the interview was contentious, it was Benghazi. Still I think Obama kept the upper hand:

OBAMA: -- Bill, listen, I -- I -- I've gone through this and we have had multiple hearings on it. What happens is you have an attack like this taking place and you have a mix of folks who are just troublemakers. You have folks who have an ideological agenda.

O'REILLY: All right.

OBAMA: You have some who are affiliated with terrorist organizations. You have some that are not. But the main thing that all of us have to take away from this is our diplomats are serving in some very dangerous places.

Then there was the politicization of the IRS:

O'REILLY: But no mass corruption?

OBAMA: Not even mass corruption, not even a smidgen of corruption, I would say.

All in all a good but mild interview for Obama; which is itself a fundamental transformation for the man who hoped to tame the oceans and change the world.

You can read the entire transcript below:

BILL O'REILLY: Mr. President, thank you for doing this.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Great to be with you.

O'REILLY: Really appreciate it.

I want to get some things on the record.

So let's begin with health care.

OBAMA: Yes?

O'REILLY: October 1st it rolls out.

OBAMA: Right.

O'REILLY: Immediately, there are problems with the computers.

OBAMA: Right.

O'REILLY: When did you know there were going to be problems with those computers?

OBAMA: Well, I think we all anticipated there would be glitches, because any time you've got technology, a new program rolling out, there are going to be some glitches. I don't think I anticipated or anybody anticipated the degree of the problems with the Web site. And...

O'REILLY: So you just didn't know when it rolled out that this was going to be...

OBAMA: Well, I don't think...

O'REILLY: -- a problem?

OBAMA: -- as I said, I don't think anybody anticipated the degree of problems that you had on HealthCare.gov. The good news is that right away, we decided how are we going to fix it, it got fixed within a month and a half, it was up and running and now it's working the way it's supposed to and we've signed up three million people.

O'REILLY: I don't know about that, because last week, there was an Associated Press call of people who actually went to the Web site and only 8 percent of them feel that it's working well, working well.

Why didn't you fire Sebelius, the secretary in charge of this...

OBAMA: (INAUDIBLE).

O'REILLY: -- because I mean she had to know, after all those years and all that money, that it wasn't going to work?

OBAMA: You know, my main priority right now is making sure that it delivers for the American people. And what we...

O'REILLY: You're not going to answer that?

OBAMA: -- what -- what we've ended up doing is we've got three million people signed up so far. We're about a month behind of where we anticipated we wanted to be. We've got over six million people who have signed up for Medicaid.

O'REILLY: Yes.

OBAMA: We've got three million young people under the age of 26 who have signed up on their parents' plan. And so what we're constantly figuring out is how do we continue to improve it, how do we make sure that the folks who don't have health insurance can get health insurance...

O'REILLY: OK...

OBAMA: -- and those who are underinsured are able to get better health insurance.

O'REILLY: I'm sure -- I'm sure that the intent is noble, but I'm a taxpayer.

OBAMA: Yes.

O'REILLY: And I'm paying Kathleen Sebelius' salary and she screwed up.

OBAMA: Yes.

O'REILLY: And you're not holding her accountable.

OBAMA: Yes, well, I -- I promise you that we hold everybody up and down the line accountable. But when we're...

O'REILLY: But she's still there.

OBAMA: -- when we're in midstream, Bill, we want to make sure that our main focus is how do we make this thing work so that people are able to sign up?

And that's what we've done.

O'REILLY: All right.

Was it the biggest mistake of your presidency to tell the nation over and over, if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance?

OBAMA: Oh, Bill, you've got a long list of my mistakes of my presidency...

O'REILLY: But, no, really, for you...

OBAMA: -- as I've (INAUDIBLE)...

O'REILLY: -- wasn't that the biggest one?

OBAMA: But this is -- this is one that I regret and I've said I regretted, in part because we put in a grandfather clause in the original law saying that, in fact, you were supposed to be able to keep it. It obviously didn't cover everybody that we needed to and that's why we changed it, so that we further grandfathered in folks and many people who thought originally, when they got that cancellation notice, they couldn't keep it or not (INAUDIBLE)...

O'REILLY: It's in the past. But isn't that the...

OBAMA: So...

O'REILLY: -- biggest mistake?

OBAMA: Well, I, you know, Bill, as I said...

O'REILLY: You gave your enemies...

OBAMA: You...

O'REILLY: -- a lot of fodder for it.

OBAMA: -- you were very generous in saying I look pretty good considering I've been in the presidency for five years. And I think part of the reason is, I try to focus not on the fumbles, but on the next plan.

O'REILLY: All right.

Libya, House Armed Services testimony, General Carter Ham, you know, the general?

OBAMA: Yes. Right.

O'REILLY: Security in Africa.

OBAMA: Yes.

O'REILLY: He testified that on the day that the ambassador was murdered and the three other Americans, all right, he told Secretary Panetta it was a terrorist attack. Shortly after Ham, General Ham, said that, Secretary Panetta came in to you.

OBAMA: Yes.

O'REILLY: Did he tell you, Secretary Panetta, it was a terrorist attack?

OBAMA: You know what he told me was that there was an attack on our compound...

O'REILLY: He didn't tell you...

OBAMA: -- (INAUDIBLE)...

O'REILLY: -- he didn't use the word "terror?"

OBAMA: You know, in -- in the heat of the moment, Bill, what folks are focused on is what's happening on the ground, do we have eyes on it, how can we make sure our folks are secure...

O'REILLY: Because I just want to get this on the record...

OBAMA: So, I...

O'REILLY: -- did he tell you it was a terror attack?

OBAMA: Bill -- and what I'm -- I'm answering your question. What he said to me was, we've got an attack on our compound. We don't know yet...

O'REILLY: No terror attack?

OBAMA: -- we don't know yet who's doing it. Understand, by definition, Bill, when somebody is attacking our compound...

O'REILLY: Yes?

OBAMA: -- that's an act of terror, which is how I characterized it the day after it happened. So the -- so the question ends up being who, in fact, was attacking us?

O'REILLY: But it's more than that...

OBAMA: And that...

O'REILLY: -- though...

OBAMA: -- well, we...

O'REILLY: -- because of Susan Rice.

OBAMA: No, it...

O'REILLY: It's more than that because if Susan Rice goes out and tells the world that it was a spontaneous demonstration...

OBAMA: Bill...

O'REILLY: -- off a videotape but your...

OBAMA: Bill...

O'REILLY: -- your commanders and the secretary of Defense know it's a terror attack...

OBAMA: Now, Bill...

O'REILLY: Just...

OBAMA: -- Bill...

O'REILLY: -- as an American...

OBAMA: -- Bill -- Bill...

O'REILLY: -- I'm just confused.

OBAMA: And I'm -- and I'm trying to explain it to, if you want to listen. The fact of the matter is is that people understood, at the time, something very dangerous was happening, that we were focused on making sure that we did everything we can -- could -- to protect them. In the aftermath, what became clear was that the security was lax, that not all the precautions and -- that needed to be taken were taken and both myself and Secretary Clinton and others indicated as much.

But at the moment, when these things happen, Bill, on the other side of the world, people...

O'REILLY: It's the fog of war...

OBAMA: -- people -- that's -- people don't know at the very moment exactly why something like this happens. And when you look at the videotape of this whole thing unfolding, this is not some systematic, well organized process. You see...

O'REILLY: Well, it was heavy weapons used...

OBAMA: -- you...

O'REILLY: -- and that...

OBAMA: -- what you...

O'REILLY: -- that's the thing...

OBAMA: -- what you see -- Bill...

O'REILLY: -- heavy weapons coming in.

OBAMA: -- Bill, listen, I -- I -- I've gone through this and we have had multiple hearings on it. What happens is you have an attack like this taking place and you have a mix of folks who are just troublemakers. You have folks who have an ideological agenda.

O'REILLY: All right.

OBAMA: You have some who are affiliated with terrorist organizations. You have some that are not. But the main thing that all of us have to take away from this is our diplomats are serving in some very dangerous places.

O'REILLY: But there's more...

OBAMA: And we've got...

O'REILLY: -- there's more than that...

OBAMA: -- and we've got -- and we've got to make sure that not only have we implemented all the reforms that were recommended...

O'REILLY: OK.

OBAMA: -- by the independent agency...

O'REILLY: I...

OBAMA: -- but we also have to make sure that we understand our folks out there are in a hazardous, dangerous situation...

O'REILLY: I think everybody understands that...

OBAMA: -- and we...

O'REILLY: -- Mr. President.

OBAMA: No, but -- but, actually, not everybody does, because what ends up happening...

O'REILLY: I think they do.

OBAMA: -- what ends up happening is we end up creating a political agenda...

O'REILLY: Absolutely...

OBAMA: -- over something...

O'REILLY: -- and that's...

OBAMA: -- (INAUDIBLE)...

O'REILLY: -- that was my next question.

OBAMA: -- which Democrats and Republicans should be unified in trying to figure out how are we going to protect people (INAUDIBLE)?

O'REILLY: I've got to get to the IRS...

OBAMA: OK.

O'REILLY: -- but I just want to say that they're -- your detractors believe that you did not tell the world it was a terror attack because your campaign didn't want that out.

OBAMA: Bill, think about...

O'REILLY: That's what they believe.

OBAMA: -- and they believe it because folks like you are telling them that.

O'REILLY: No, I'm not telling them that.

(LAUGHTER)

O'REILLY: I'm asking you whether you were told...

OBAMA: But -- and what I'm saying is...

O'REILLY: -- it was a terror attack and you...

OBAMA: -- and what I'm saying is that is inaccurate.

O'REILLY: All right.

OBAMA: We -- we revealed to the American people exactly what we understood at the time. The notion that we would hide the ball for political purposes when, a week later, we all said, in fact, there was a terrorist attack taking place the day after, I said it was an act of terror, that wouldn't be a very good cover-up...

O'REILLY: All right.

OBAMA: -- if that's what we were interested in.

O'REILLY: I've got to get to the IRS...

OBAMA: Yes.

O'REILLY: -- because I don't know what happened there and I'm hoping maybe you can tell us. Douglas Shulman, former IRS chief, he was cleared into the White House 157 times, more than any of your cabinet members, more than any other IRS guy in the history, by far.

OK, why was Douglas Shulman here 157 times?

Why?

OBAMA: Mr. Shulman, as the head of the IRS, is constantly coming in, because at the time, we were trying to set up the, uh, HealthCare.gov and the IRS...

O'REILLY: What did he have to do with that?

OBAMA: -- and the IRS is involved in making sure that that works as part of the overall health care team.

O'REILLY: So it was all health care?

OBAMA: Number two, we've also got the IRS involved when it comes to some of the financial reforms to make sure that we don't have taxpayer funded bailouts in the future. So you had all these different agendas in which the head of the IRS is naturally involved.

O'REILLY: Did you speak to him a lot...

OBAMA: -- (INAUDIBLE).

O'REILLY: -- yourself?

OBAMA: I do not recall meeting with him in any of these meetings that are pretty routine meetings that we had.

O'REILLY: OK, so you don't -- you don't recall seeing Shulman, because what some people are saying is that the IRS was used...

OBAMA: Yes.

O'REILLY: -- at a -- at a local level in Cincinnati, and maybe other places to go after...

OBAMA: Absolutely wrong.

O'REILLY: -- to go after.

OBAMA: Absolutely wrong.

O'REILLY: But how do you know that, because we -- we still don't know what happened there?

OBAMA: Bill, we do -- that's not what happened. They -- folks have, again, had multiple hearings on this. I mean these kinds of things keep on surfacing, in part because you and your TV station will promote them.

O'REILLY: But don't...

OBAMA: But when (INAUDIBLE)...

O'REILLY: -- think there are unanswered questions?

OBAMA: Bill, when you actually look at this stuff, there have been multiple hearings on it. What happened here was it that you've got a...

O'REILLY: But there's no definition on it.

OBAMA: -- you've got a 501(c)(4) law that people think is focusing. No -- that the folks did not know how to implement...

O'REILLY: OK...

OBAMA: -- because it basically says...

O'REILLY: -- so you're saying there was no...

OBAMA: -- if you are involved...

O'REILLY: -- no corruption there at all, none?

OBAMA: That's not what I'm saying.

O'REILLY: (INAUDIBLE).

OBAMA: That's actually...

O'REILLY: No, no, but I want to know what...

OBAMA: -- (INAUDIBLE)...

O'REILLY: -- you're saying. You're the leader of the country.

OBAMA: Absolutely.

O'REILLY: You're saying no corruption?

OBAMA: No.

O'REILLY: None?

No?

OBAMA: There were some -- there were some bone-headed decisions...

O'REILLY: Bone-headed decisions...

OBAMA: -- out of -- out of a local office...

O'REILLY: But no mass corruption?

OBAMA: Not even mass corruption, not even a smidgeon of corruption, I would say.

O'REILLY: OK. I got a letter from Kathy LaMaster (ph), Fresno, California. I said I would read one letter from the folks, all right?

OBAMA: All right.

O'REILLY: "Mr. President, why do you feel it's necessary to fundamentally transform the nation that has afforded you so much opportunity and success?"

OBAMA: I don't think we have to fundamentally transform the nation...

O'REILLY: But those are your words.

OBAMA: I think that what we have to do is make sure that here in America, if you work hard, you can get ahead. Bill, you and I benefitted from this incredible country of ours, in part, because there were good jobs out there that paid a good wage, because you had public schools that functioned well, that we could get scholarships if we didn't come from a wealthy family, in order to go to college.

O'REILLY: Right.

OBAMA: That, you know, if you worked hard, not only did you have a good job, but you also had decent benefits, decent health care...

O'REILLY: They're cutting me off...

OBAMA: -- and for a lot of folks, we don't have that. We've got to make sure that we're doing everything we can to expand the middle class...

O'REILLY: All right...

OBAMA: -- and work hard and people who are working hard can get into the middle class.

O'REILLY: I think -- I -- you know, I know you think maybe we haven't been fair, but I think your heart is in the right place.

Projection for the game -- who's going to win the Super Bowl?

OBAMA: I can't make a prediction. I don't know. These guys are too evenly matched. I think it is going to be 24-21, but I don't know who's going to be...

O'REILLY: You don't really know?

OBAMA: -- 24 and I don't know who's going to be 21.

O'REILLY: Mr. President, thanks very much.

OBAMA: I enjoyed it.

Thank you.

Obama's State of the Union reveals a shrinking lame duck presidency

Yesterday, we noted that the American people see the state of the union as divided, troubled and deteriorating. 

Last night President Obama's fifth State of the Union address, (sixth if you count his 2009 non-State of the Union), showed the shrinking lame duck Obama presidency. You can see this clearly by surveying the media's reaction to the mediocre speech.

In an Associated Press article titled, "Analysis: Obama's Agenda More Bite-Sized Than Bold," Nancy Benac wrote that, "The president's State of the Union address Tuesday was an amalgam of modest proposals designed to chip away at some of the same problems he's been working on all along: persistent unemployment, middle-class insecurity, lagging schools and more." 

That theme was continued on CBS News when John Dickerson reported, "If you look at the specifics of what he's going to do - he's going to raise the minimum wage for companies that work with the federal government. Well that's a very small amount. He's gonna set up a special thing at the Treasury Department, a savings account. That's a very small thing. He's going to convene C.E.O.s., he's going to meet with college professors, he's going to cut some red tape and take care of some permitting blockages. That is very small bore stuff compared to the claims the President made tonight and his aides have been making in terms of his acting." 

Also during CBS's SOTU coverage, Norah O'Donnell put it this way, "I think the rest of his speech really just proved, that Obama's proposals have gone from grand to granular. Right? From these grand sweeping proposals at the beginning of his second term to the granule, kind of more modest scaled back proposals." 

David M. Drucker, Senior Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner, Tweeted that Obama's speech was littered with "small ball ideas he's previously offered."

In an Article titled, "Obama Outlines Modest Plans in State of the Union Before Country Turns the Page: Audacity of a more limited scope," Time's Alex Altman and Zeke Miller, reported that Obama's SOTU speech was littered with recycled ideas, "He offered 'a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class.' But virtually all of them, from manufacturing initiatives to wider broadband access, were ideas Obama has plugged before." 

On Fox News, The Daily Beast's Kirsten Powers said the speech was oversold and poll-tested, "The things he listed off, whether it's student debt or Pre-K funding are things that he brings up all the time because they poll very well. But the speech was definitely oversold by the White House in the sense that we were told to expect sort of this urgency. I really did not hear any urgency, I was expecting more of a, you know, we're in really dire straits and that's why I have to pull out my pen, and why I have to take things into my own hands. And that was really missing from the speech." 

Not exactly rave reviews.

The state of the union is divided, troubled and deteriorating

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that the state of the union is divided, troubled and deteriorating. Those were the top answers given when respondents were asked which one or two words best describe the current state of the nation:

1. Divided - 37 percent
2. Troubled - 23 percent
3. Deteriorating - 21 percent

According to Mark Murray, Senior Political Editor for NBC News, the new poll also finds that 68 percent of Americans say the country is either stagnant or worse off since President Obama took office and "a deep pessimism continues to fuel the public's mood."

Most respondents used words like “divided,” “troubled,” and “deteriorating” to describe the current state of the nation:

"On the eve of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, more than six-in-10 Americans believe that the nation is headed in the wrong direction and 70 percent are dissatisfied with the economy."

According to the Wall Street Journal's Neil King Jr. and Patrick O'Connor, only George W. Bush began his sixth year in the White House with poll numbers worse than Obama's.

Obama wasn't able to achieve much progress on his calls in last year's State of the Union for  gun control, and legislation to deal with climate change and raise the minimum wage. Chris Wallace took Dan Pfeiffer to task about this on Fox News Sunday:

PFEIFFER: Well, I think what you're going to hear from the president on Tuesday night is a series of concrete, practical, specific proposals on how we restore opportunity, through a wide set of means -- job training, education, manufacturing, energy. These will be some legislative proposals, but also a number of actions he can take on his own.

WALLACE: All right. I want to pick up on that, because as we say, this is a familiar theme for the president. He talked about it a lot the last two years. Let's look at the Obama record, what he proposed and what happened to those ideas last year.

The president proposed raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour -- no progress. Creating a network of 15 manufacturing hubs -- no progress. Universal preschool -- nothing. Major tax reform -- nothing.

Tell us about this memo that is in the papers today that you wrote, the president has apparently accepted to basically work around Congress more and to do more through executive action.

The president is expected to recycle many of those ideas in this year's poll-driven speech. This is not uncommon for Obama. As can be seen in the following video, he recycles false promises and false hope in his State of the Union speeches:

In his article, Murray points out that a number of the issues Obama is expected to raise in the State of the Union address poll well:

• Sixty-three percent support ensuring all children have access to preschool education;
• Fifty-nine percent support closing tax loopholes benefiting corporations;
• Fifty-one percent support increasing the minimum wage.
• Fifty-four percent support fixing ObamaCare, but 48 percent still consider ObamaCare a bad idea.

As Scott Wilson, chief White House correspondent for the Washington Post, put it, "Last year began with the fresh-start ambitions of his [Obama's] second inauguration but ended in a long trail of mistakes, international embarrassments and missed legislative opportunities that sapped Obama’s credibility with the public."

Only 37 percent of Americans are confident Obama will make the right decisions

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that only 37 percent of Americans are confident that President Obama will make the right decisions for the country’s future, while 63 percent are not. According to the Washington Post, those numbers are the mirror image of what they were when Obama was sworn into office in 2009 and lower than at any other time the question was asked by the Washington Post and ABC News poll.

As Obama prepares to give his fifth State of the Union address (sixth if you count his 2009 non- State of the Union), it must be sobering to know that the new poll finds his approval rating at 46 percent, with 50 percent disapproving. That may be up from 42 percent in November, but this is the first time on the eve of a State of the Union address more Americans rate his performance negatively than positively, 

The Post also points out that Obama’s approval ratings are almost identical to those of George W. Bush at a similar point in his presidency in 2006. 

The poll has lots of other bad news for Obama:

• Sixty-two percent say the country is headed “pretty seriously off on the wrong track.”
• Fifty-five percent disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy.
• Fifty-nine percent disapprove of his implementation of ObamaCare.
• He fares poorly in foreign policy as well. Only 33% approve of his handling of Syria. Only 39% approve of his handling Iran. And while he has a positive 50-42 percent approval rating for handling the threat of terrorism, he has slipped under majority approval on this issue for the first time in his presidency.
• Only 47 percent now say Obama "understands the problems of people like you," while 52 percent says he doesn't. 

Obama’s weakness leaves his party vulnerable. Independents now back Republican candidates by a 12-point margin.

When you consider the recent poll CNN polls which found Americans now believe that Obama is "not honest and trustworthy," and that even the Obama base is turning against ObamaCare, Obama looks more and more like a lame duck.

Obama delays the budget process yet again

Image credit: Office of Management and Budget

A new report from Congressional Quarterly suggests that ObamaCare isn't the only item being delayed in the White House these days. Apparently the official White House budget proposal, which is required by law to be submitted to Congress no later than the first Monday of February, is on track to be "at least a month behind" schedule: 

From the CQ Morning Briefing: 

WHITE HOUSE BUDGET DELAYED: The White House is said to be at least a month behind its own schedule for developing a fiscal 2015 budget, which by statute is supposed to be submitted to Congress on the first Monday in February. That will slow work on next year’s spending bills, even though the budget accord negotiated by House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., established overall discretionary spending levels.

This is hardly shocking from a White House where delays, extensions, and "that rule doesn't apply to me" thinking has become the norm. We don't have to go into a long dissertation about the ever mounting White House-approved delays in ObamaCare. Nor Obama's incessant foot dragging delays of the Keystone Pipeline.

The budget situation, though, is particularly egregious. With this year's pending failure, five of Obama's last six budgets have been submitted late, including last year's FY2014 proposal which was sent to Congress 65 days late. That's more than any president since the Budget and Accounting Act was passed in 1921. 

As President Obama put it in a November radio address, budgets "expose what our priorities are as a country for all to see." Ironic emphasis on the "all to see." Apparently these Obama priorities are just not important enough for Obama "the Incompetent's" White House to manage to write down on schedule. 

There is no penalty for submitting a budget late (other than being perceived as incompetent), but the Obama White House's complete disregard for the law here has real implications in the budget process. While the House and the Senate have agreed on top line budget numbers for FY2015 with the recent deal, the Republicans in the House still need to pass a series of appropriations bills for each part of the government, in order to specify what will be funded. Every day that the White House delays its budget proposal is another day that the House is forced to waste as FY2015 inches closer. Worse, the delays jeopardize any possibility Congress for to get it done.

Republicans could (and probably will) start forging their own bills, but Harry Reid would swat all those down. These delays in the past have been culpable for Congress' failure to pass the necessary appropriations bills. It looks like the White House is looking to do it yet again.

Who wants to bet that, if and when this latest delay knocks the wind out of House Republicans, Obama will then go out on the campaign trail and rail against the "do-nothing" Congress?

At the end of the day, it's just another Obama failure to lead. It leaves one wondering whether Obama's White House is ignorantly unaware of the results of their failure, or if they just don't care. 

Obama's terrible Egyptian optics

It was terrible optics, the next day the President goes golfing and Secretary Kerry is out on his yacht. - Reuters' David Rohde

On the Face The Nation, Reuters' David Rohde nailed it when describing the incompetent manner in which the Obama administration has handled the Egyptian coup. Rohde noted that the administration could have a much clearer public position about its goals in the region -- there's more options than simply we intervene militarily, we dictate events on the ground, we control everything and doing absolutely nothing.  He went on to mention the terrible optics of the President golfing and Secretary Kerry out on his yacht.

"What does that say to young people in Egypt across the Middle East whether-- whatever part of the debate about America's interests in the region and democracy?"

You can read the complete quote and context in the transcript provided by Face The Nation.

With regard to Kerry's role, on Saturday the National Republican Senatorial Committee reminded us that john Kerry continues to be consistent in his difficulty with the truth.

With regard to Obama, after four and one half years in office, his administration remains incompetent.

Fort Hood hero: President Obama 'betrayed' shooting victims

ABC News reports that Sergeant Kimberly Munley, one of the two then police Sergeants who stopped the deadly shooting at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, says President Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of:

"Betrayed is a good word. Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of. In fact they've been neglected."

During the shooting that many consider a terrorist attack, Major Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and a practicing Muslim of Palestinian descent, shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire and mercilessly shot 44 soldiers preparing to deploy to Iraq and one civilian killing 13. Munley was shot three times in her confrontation with Hasan.

You can watch video of the shootings aftermath below:

Initially, Obama tried to capitalize on the heroic actions of Munley and her partner Sergeant Mark Todd. They were included as guests in the First Lady's box for the 2010 State of the Union address. A few months later they were again honored by Obama at the 2010 National Association of Police Organizations TOP COPS award winners ceremony in the Rose Garden.

Despite the fact that there is extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the victims were denied  Purple Hearts and the government shooting has been treating the incident as "workplace violence" instead of "combat related" or terrorism. You can read a redacted report on the FBI's investigation of Hasan's ties to al-Awlaki here. Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011.

To add insult to her injuries Munley was laid off from her job with the base's civilian police force last year.

Last November, Munley and 147 other plaintiffs sued the U.S. government, Hassan and the estate of Anwar al-Awlaki seeking damages and a ruling that the shooting was a terrorist attack. Such a finding would clear the way for them to receive benefits available to those who injuries are classified as "combat related," which aren't available as the result of workplace violence. You can read the lawsuit here.

According to ABC News, former Sgt. Munley now believes Obama used her for political advantage in arranging for her to sit next to Michelle Obama during the President's State of the Union address in 2010. Munley says she  wants to help the others who were shot that day and continue to suffer.

"We got tired of being neglected. So this was our last resort and I'm not ashamed of it a bit."

Something to think about as you watch tonight's State of the Union political theater with its shooting victim props.