The President will deliver his third State of the Union address tonight. The intrepid reporters at National Public Radio are simply buzzing with excitement! With all these problems oppressing the nation, what will our Fearless Leader say?
Let's use our handy time machine to take a short trip back to February 24, 2009. It is the President's first State of the Union speech. The O-Man had only been in office a few weeks. Hope was in the air. Change We Can Believe In was hurtling down the runway toward a glorious lift-off. W was gone! Liberals were giddy about our limitless prospects. The nation was saved—or, shortly would be.
Let's listen in on Barack Obama and read along as we do. How has the President done? You be the judge. I have added some emphasis in the text in those spots where I want you to pay particular attention, to jog your memory.
Politicians can not bullshit you successfully if you remember the past, or at least enough of it to see the disparities between what the Reality is now as opposed to what they said and did then. If nobody remembers anything, nobody is accountable for anything. If everybody lives in an Eternal Present, then nothing ever happened and nothing ever will.
Thus, memory serves as a bullshit filter. Bear this in mind as you travel back to February, 2009 to listen to the President's stirring words.
I have come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.
I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has – a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. You don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day. It’s the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It’s the job you thought you’d retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.
But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:
We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before. [vigorous applause]
The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.
Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities – as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.
The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank.
We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before.
The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform.
Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before.
In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. [applause]
Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market.
People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.
Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.
Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.
It’s an agenda that begins with jobs. [applause]
As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President’s Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government – I don’t. Not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited – I am. I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships. In fact, a failure to act would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years. That’s why I pushed for quick action. And tonight, I am grateful that this Congress delivered, and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law. [wild applause]
[continues after video ends]
Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector...
gee whiz, that first sotu certainly got flushed down the memory hole commode. you are so right, no memory/history equals no accountability. this sort of pathology is well documented. will mrO plead temporary insanity? stay tuned.
Posted by: elvinator | 01/25/2011 at 12:05 PM