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At 9PM EST tonight, President Obama will strut up to the podium to announce to the nation that everything in America is fine and dandy like sour candy. Members of Congress will crowd the aisles in order to get a decent photo-op with Obama, and Supreme Court justices, save for maybe Justice Alito, will attempt their best impression of the statues in front of their workplace. Of all the riff-raff we are expected to experience tonight, The Washington Post recently said that, “…here’s one thing you won’t hear: an ambitious new plan to rein in the national debt.” The president believes that $1.5 trillion in long-term debt reduction is a sufficient amount for his administration. Strangely, even Press Secretary Carney acknowledged yesterday that, “Of course the president believes we have a spending problem…” Hopefully, while the president practices his speech, his smile, and his finger-point shout outs , he will take the time to ponder the fact that roughly $1.25 trillion has been added to the national debt since his 2012 SOTU speech. And that’s just what happened last year. The long-term ramifications of the president’s fiscal put the nation is a real pickle as well. As the American Action Forum’s budget guru, Gordon Gray,points out that Obama’s deficit plans are not sufficient: “Even when the president and the administration can create an artificial future – both in terms of policy and economics – we’re still headed for a debt crisis,” and that the national debt will surge through 150 percent of GDP by 2070. The lofty rhetoric of Obama’s speech tonight should be viewed skeptically. Last year, his words led to several policy fumbles. Here’s a look at the glaring problems with President Obama’s last State Of The Union speech: Seize the day, Mark Bednar |
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President Obama’s Policy Fumbles
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Tweet Tweet @MajorCBS “Hagel Senate Armed Services Cmte vote Tuesday and look for full Senate vote Thursday. My story: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57568666/hagel-confirmation-votes-to-b …” @ZeroHedge “Pope Had Heart Surgery to Replace Pacemaker, Spokesman Says” @CBSThisMorning “VP Dick Cheney tells @CharlieRose he thinks the administration’s national security policies are ‘terribly flawed.’” @CNNbrk “North Korea confirms it has conducted its third underground nuclear testhttp://on.cnn.com/WFJPHA” @NYTimes “Olympic Committee Drops Wrestling From 2020 Games http://nyti.ms/Z7qd1w” On The Radar Economic Growth Obama Rated Highest On Foreign Affairs, Lowest On Deficit. “President Obama earns a 39% job approval rating for his handling of the economy, similar to his ratings on the issue one year ago. Among domestic issues, Obama’s rating on the economy is above only his 31% rating for handling the federal deficit. Across nine issues, Americans give Obama his highest approval ratings for handling national defense (53%), followed by foreign affairs and immigration, each at 46%.” Executive Action Expected On Climate. “At the very top of advocates’ wish list is a commitment to setting carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants. A move in that direction would begin an all-out war with coal-based power companies and some other industry sectors that say there would be huge economic costs from increased regulation.” Former Political Scienctist To Congress: Please Defund Political Science. “Critics of defunding, such as The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, argue that scientists — not the government — are better judges of which research deserves funding. While it’s true that many of the most influential political scientists have attempted to steer their colleagues toward relevance, the vast majority will have no reason to change their navel-gazing ways until they are forced to seek funding from organizations that directly benefit from their research. The problem is that modern-day “political science” is rarely related to public policy or diplomacy at all. The scientific study of politics is the hyper-analytic mathematical, psychological, and anthropological study of civic behavior. “Radical Moderation: Recapturing Power in Two-Party Parliamentary Systems” is the title of one recent article in the prestigious American Journal of Political Science. It’s a quantitative study of how a political party’s reputation persists in between elections for countries with non-presidential systems.” Immigration Lawmakers, Entrepreneurs Push Immigration Proposals Ahead Of State Of The Union. “A group of entrepreneurs and legislators are urging President Obama to put particular emphasis on bringing more highly skilled, foreign-born individuals into the country, as calls for immigration reform grow louder. Three senators sent a letter to the president late last week imploring him to address some of the unique hurdles facing today’s entrepreneurs in his fifth State of the Union address. Among those hurdles, they say, none is bigger than immigration laws that are stopping highly educated, entrepreneurial immigrants from launching companies and creating jobs in the United States.” Health Care Hospitals, Lawmakers Want To End Medicare “Manipulation” “Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) last week introduced a bill that would eliminate the provision requiring Medicare reimbursement for hospital wages come from a national pool. … The Affordable Care Act provision already prompted an angry letter from a group of 21 hospital associations arguing that allowing hospitals in Massachusetts to boost their Medicare payments is unfairly upping fees for other states.” Carney: Obama Won’t Back Higher Medicare Age. “Carney said during his daily press briefing that Obama has ruled out raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 as a way to slow healthcare spending and reduce the federal deficit. Obama had previously been open to raising the eligibility age as part of a “grand bargain” that would include spending cuts as well as tax increases to reduce the deficit. But Carney said Monday that the Medicare change is off the table.” X-Factor Bob Menendez, Senator Of The Evening. “Menendez is facing a Senate ethics investigation of two free trips he took in 2010 aboard the private plane of a donor, Salomon Melgen, to a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic. After news of the jaunts became public recently, Menendez reimbursed Melgen $58,500. The senator and his various political entities have received almost $50,000 from Melgen and his family, who also gave $700,000 to a super PAC created to elect Senate Democrats. As it turns out, Menendez performed certain acts for his benefactor.” This & That Obama Prepares To Screw His Base Playoff Heartbreak Shouldn’t Detour Washington As NL Pennant Favorites 7 Things Democrats Would Have Freaked Out About If Bush Had Done Them LiLo: Bane Of Tribeca Distinguished Dogs Advance To Final Round In Westminster Show |