President Barack Obama was unapologetic and a bit defiant as he delivered his first State of the Union address on Wednesday. Obama focused mainly on the economy and essentially reaffirmed his Democratness, which was a refreshing change from a week of Democratic leaders surrendering in response to Scott Brown's hairy abdomen.
He affirmed his support for the stimulus plan and the banks. He said we needed the bailout and have already recovered most of cash spent on banks. Obama proposed a fee on banks to recover the rest use $30 billion repaid to help small banks. He also expressed support for investment in alternative energy sources, affirmed the existence of climate change and endorsed an aggressive trade policy with other countries.
The Republicans didn't enjoy the early part of the speech. Poor babies.
Obama uttering a platitude on healthcare reform finally got the GOP to stand. Not sure why. President Obama cited Congressional Budget Office (CBO) numbers that show healthcare reform cutting the deficit $1 trillion over 20 years. Obama said Congress should look at bill again, or offer an alternative. He added "Let's get it done."
Next, we got a history lesson. Obama mentioned the surplus President Clinton left us and how it turned into a huge deficit. He mentioned no specific person or party, and blamed nobody in particular. Senator John McCain was shown mouthing something like "Blaming Bush?" to Senator Lindsey Graham. A real knee-slapper. Of course, we could be mistaken.
President Obama also mentioned his budget freeze idea, which McCain allegedly supports.
He criticized the Supreme Court decision on election finance, which Justice Samuel Alito's shaking head didn't like. This Bostonist always watches the State of the Union address and has never seen that.
The concluding segment went like this in Congress: Troops? Support 'em! Haiti? Help 'em. Freedom? Love it. Gays and immigrants? We know about them.
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