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Obama's SOTU Cop-Out

February 13, 2013

Six thousand, four hundred, and fifty words into his State of the Union address last night, President Obama uttered the following cop-out:

In fact, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I’ve outlined tonight.

Say what? Does the president mean he and Congress and the bureaucracy actually might not be able "perfectly" to "reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth," "restore the basic bargain that built this country," "make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation," "grow the middle class," "reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies," "bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare," "save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and the well-connected," "set party interests aside and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future," "create more than 1 million new jobs," "reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race," "do more to combat climate change," "fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good," "cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years," "put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs," "prove that there’s no better place to do business than here in the United States of America," "give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at today’s rates," "make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America," "redesign America’s high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy," "change the Higher Education Act so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid," "pass comprehensive immigration reform," "declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts,""reward an honest day’s work with honest wages," "build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them," "achieve our objective of defeating the core of al Qaeda," "continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans," "continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world’s most dangerous weapons," "do what is necessary to prevent [Iran] from getting a nuclear weapon," "seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials," "face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks," "boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia," "eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades by connecting more people to the global economy," "remain the anchor of strong alliances," "stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights," "insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people," "keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that has murdered its own people, and support opposition leaders that respect the rights of every Syrian," "stand steadfast with Israel," " invest in new capabilities, even as we reduce waste and wartime spending," "ensure equal treatment for all servicemembers, and equal benefits for their families -- gay and straight," "draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters and moms," "keep faith with our veterans," "protect our most precious resource: our children," and "be the authors of the next great chapter of our American story"?

I'm sorry, Mr. President, I want more. I've had to replace several tires in the last couple of months. What are you doing about the cost of auto repair? And then there are all the animals. What about them? How are we going to solve the rapacious cat problem? And the fat people—what is government doing to do to make them thin? Also it took me 40 minutes to get into work today. There is a giant pothole on Fourteenth Street two blocks from the White House. WHAT IS OBAMA DOING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM? Don't dodge the issue by saying, "The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem." Of course they do. Don't sell yourself short. My knee aches about midway through a 3 mile run. Why weren't aches and pains mentioned in the State of the Union? What happened to the fierce urgency of now? We can't wait, Mr. President. There are so many more problems for government to solve.