State of the Union -- what's the Point?

Here's how the Wall Street Journal describes it: "President Barack Obama will call for a 'responsible' effort to shrink the deficit but won't offer detailed plans on spending and taxes in a State of the Union address Tuesday that will presage the broad themes for political debate through the 2012 election. The president is expected to call for 'shared sacrifice' from both parties, and to reach out to the GOP with a nod to possibly lowering the nation's corporate income-tax rate as part of an overhaul of the corporate-tax code, according to people familiar with speech preparations."

So what does that mean? One thing is certain, it seems that Obama is going with the "more of the same" choice on his decision tree. Remember the 2008 campaign when Obama promised to go line by line through the federal budget to cut unnecessary spending? Most people who followed the campaign will remember that. Remember when Obama's budget director sat with obama for that line by line review? Only those on hallucenogenic drugs will remember that one; it never happened. Indeed, since 2007, Obama has talked the talk of spending control; he has, however, never actually done anything about it. Oh, he did freeze certain spending for a year after first radically increasing it. In other words, he used a spending freeze to lock in higher spending. So now we hear of the need for a responsible effort to shrink the budget deficit but without specifics. that's why it is just more of the same from Obama. the sad thing, however, is that the nation cannot survive more of the same. We need to get spending under control. Even a freeze at last year's levels is not responsible. The limits of the US borrowing power are fast approaching.

Obama's call for shared sacrifice from both parties also needs translation. Let me put it into English for you. Obama is saying this: "When Democrats had total control for the last two years, we pushed through expensive programs that were not wanted by the majority of Americans but which we Democrats liked (Obamacare for example.) Now that the GOP has some portion of control through its House majority, it is time for the Republicans to give up the pledges that they made to get elected. Indeed, those unpopular programs that the Democrats put into place need to be protected as part of the shared sacrifice."

Once again, Obama is playing to his base of people on hallucenogenic drugs. Indeed, Obama knows that the GOP will not go along with this plan. He just wants them to look unreasonable when they insist on cuts. His allies in the media are gearing up to help in that effort.

Finally, Obama is going to reach out to the Republicans with agreement for lowering the corporate tax rate. Here too, I see posturing. The Republicans have a whole series of plans to promote economic growth. which one does Obama pick? The one that plays best with the perpetual theme of Democrats that the GOP is a captive of the big business lobby. I will ignore the falsity of this charge for the moment; it requires a longer exposition than space allows here. It just strikes me that the choice where to compromise seems designed to help only the Democrats.

In my lifetime, the State of The Union Address has been received with hoopla and cheers and then been forgotten about 14 minutes after it is completed. As a result, I doubt that much will come from this one. I do think, however, that it is sad that obama is planning to use the speech for such blatant political purposes rather than for trying to improve the lot of all Americans.