The Non-State of the Union

Did you watch the President’s State of the Union address? Sorry to say, but I did. There should have a disclaimer under the picture saying, “This presentation is paid for by the people of the United States on behalf of the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton.”

The best part was the beginning when Obama said he would keep it short. Well, for no more than he said about the state of the country, he could have made it a whole lot shorter.

If I had read the speech to my teenage kids they would have rolled their eyes and moaned, “Dad, you’re preaching again.” In all honesty, the crux of the speech was merely a not so well disguised diatribe against the Republican Party and especially Donald Trump.

Now, it’s no secret. I am not a big fan of Trump. But for the President of the United States to use the State of the Union speech to denounce Trump’s ideas without even naming him, is definitely a new low… even for Obama.

Sure, he did mention meeting with the new House Speaker, Paul Ryan, to find common ground that they might be able to work with. But then he went on to denounce or mock Republican efforts and ideals simply to highlight that any common ground is not going to be on substantial issues.

Did you notice that the economy has turned around and is now “robust”? Well, maybe not your economy. Are you earning more now than you did eight years ago? Somehow, that point wasn’t in the speech.

We can all rest easier now, though, knowing that ISIS and Al Qaida present no threat to the nation’s existence. Just because they can knock down skyscrapers killing over 3000 people, shoot up a government building full of people holding a Christmas party, blow up folks in the Boston Marathon, and plan even worse attacks doesn’t give us cause to worry. If you happen to meet a wild-eyed person wearing a suicide vest and carrying an assault rifle with magazines of ammunition taped to his body yelling Allahu Akbar, don’t be concerned. He doesn’t pose a threat to national existence. Why? Our President told us so.

I suppose we could take solace that this is, in fact, the last State of the Union address Obama will make, since in a year he will be out of the Oval Office. Unfortunately, he did say that he would still be working in the background. Or was that lurking in the background? Either way, it is certain the nightmare that is the Obama years will not be ending on the day they leave the White House. It will take a lot of arm-twistings and hard work to clean up the mess he is leaving. But unless Hillary replaces him, it will only seem like a bad hangover – eventually, it will go away.

There was one thing apparent about the speech – besides it being too long and having precious little to do with the state of the country. In Obama’s mind, his legacy is a grand one. In actuality, the legacy Obama will leave is that he was the worst President in the history of America. It is a title wrenched soundly from Jimmy Carter.