I SAID "FREEZE!!" - The State of the State of the Union Address

In his State of the Union Address tonight, President Obama will propose a three-year hard freeze on non-security discretionary spending, to last from 2011 through 2013. This will come packaged with the latest message from the people who brought you the “Hope” and “Change” campaign. It’s going to be called “Rescue, Rebuild, Restore”.

See, you feel better already.

Now, maybe we’re all supposed to have a short collective memory, but Obama actively campaigned against a spending freeze during the Presidential debates. Remember, he kept using that annoying hatchet and scalpel analogy.

“An across the board spending freeze is a hatchet and we need a scalpel.”

That’s the one.

John McCain suggested an across the board spending freeze on everything except for defense, veterans services and several other vital programs. Obama openly and clearly disagreed with this on at least four occasions during nationally televised debates.

This new idea about a spending freeze comes less than a year after the President signed off on the largest appropriations bill EVER _ one that was loaded full of pork.

The suggested 3 year freeze on discretionary, non-security related items is nothing more than a gimmick contrived in the aftermath of the Scott Brown Senatorial win in Massachusetts which was a referendum on the way the Administration was handling the economy. America said; “Too much spending” so the White House is responding with “spending freeze”.

Let’s take a look at this though. A so-called “freeze” would not halt or lessen the stimulus spending of which there is still $512 billion remaining, unspent from the original $787 billion.

There is also the $150 billion second stimulus package that would not be frozen. That’s just in addition to the $297 billion in repaid TARP loans and dividends that will also not be frozen, but will be available to be re-spent after it is paid back by the bailed-out banks.

Genius.

The administration is claiming that the freeze will save $250 billion over the next ten (10) years. That’s laughable as it amounts to a mere 3% of the total $9 TRILLION budget Obama pushed through last February.

You see, all the freeze does is lock in the spending already planned. They are not reducing the spending. They cranked it way up and now they are holding it in place. Typical budget increases are between 2% - 4% per year. A 6% increase is on the high side historically. Obama and Congress raised the budget 24% last year for fiscal years '09 and '10. The EPA budget alone was raised 35% in the midst of this economy. Sure, freeze that. What a savings!!

These morons haven’t the slightest idea about how to get any of this right.

Economic Recovery: FAIL
Health Care: FAIL
National Security/Terrorism: FAIL
Foreign Policy: FAIL
Promises to Change Washington Practices: FAIL
Transparency: FAIL

Obama promised the most transparent administration in U.S. history, but the only thing transparent about the Obama Administration is its attempt to repeatedly dupe the American public with rhetoric and gimmicks. This is so obvious that it is nothing short of insulting at this point. If you are one of the few who don’t see what’s going on, all I can say is that I’m sorry for you.

Last Sunday, three of the top White House advisers appeared on different Sunday talk shows. They were dispatched by the White House to make nice to the ever so pesky and temperamental American public as we drank our hot chocolate and got ready for Sunday football.

On the very same day, David Axelrod, Valerie Jarret and Robert Gibbs all gave vastly different estimates of how many jobs could be credited to President Obama’s Recovery Act.

Got that? Two of the top presidential advisers and the White House Press Secretary appeared on three different programs on the same day and provided three completely different descriptions of the state of our economy.

Valerie Jarrett was the most understated as she claimed “the Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs.” This is a lie but not so bad for Valerie Jarret.

Axelrod, the kingpin of Obama spin, gave the bill the most credit, saying it had “created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs.”

“Saved” 2 million jobs. I like that. The country lost between 7 - 8 million jobs but the stimulus saved 2 million by increasing the size of the bureaucracy. I’m going back and re-taking junior high school math.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the plan had “saved or created 1.5 million jobs.” Only a 25% difference from Axelrod. Not bad.

This is remarkable. This is not a statistic you want to be misquoting to an increasingly disgruntled American people as they reach into their pockets and come up with less and less cash while watching their taxes go up. Forget the math, someone needs a history lesson. And the weekend before Obama’s first State of the Union address? (Remember, Obama claimed the stimulus would create 3.65 million jobs in the private sector. Instead we’ve lost twice that many jobs and only increased the number of government jobs by a fraction of that number. Naturally, I’m only pointing this out because I’m racist.)

Gibbs, not surprisingly dug the deepest though. He had actually preceded the statement about the 1.5 million jobs with “Just last quarter, we finally saw the first positive economic job growth in more than a year.”

Patently false.

They’re scrambling in the wake of the Massachusetts election. Right now they’re in a position where they will say anything to calm and subdue the tide of anger and voter resentment. Forget about conservatives. There is some serious buyer’s remorse going on here among independents and liberals.

As far as the State of the Union speech itself is concerned, here’s what they’re going for. They are going to attempt to pivot their position on the surface and repackage the President. One of the things they will do is to look back and, once again, blame Bush. Trust me, they will. Even though they QUADRUPLED the deficit in one year, increased discretionary spending $140 billion from where Bush left it and passed a useless $787 billion stimulus bill, the situation we’re in is Bush’s fault. That bastard.

After the “Hope” and “Change” and the high of having the first half-black President has faded, we are left with an incompetent administration that is exhibiting one weakness after another. The list of broken promises would not be such an affront if Obama even came close on one issue. It’s not that he’s underperforming. He’s in another universe, and it doesn’t appear that he is going to change course for the better in practice. The rhetoric is still flowing, but there are no signs of real action that the American people can truly stand behind en masse.

The realities have set in for voting Americans:

1. Terrorists want to kill us no matter who the President is

2. Taxes must be lowered in order to get the economy moving again

3. Americans don’t want a bureaucracy-laden, single payer health care system

4. Other countries don’t have to love us in order for us to be a great nation

5. Great public speakers don’t necessarily make good leaders

The shine has worn off the inaugural shoes and when he looks down, our President can no longer see his own reflection.