Conservatives reacted to the president's State of the Union speech. One count had the "I/me" count at 96; another at over 100.
President Obama promised to fight for the middle class--instead of sneering arrogantly at them as he did throughout 2009.
As can be expected, reaction was swift.
So, we present: a baker's dozen (13) of conservative reactions to President Obama's Statue of the Union speech.
ALSO at DBKP: Obama State of the Union: No Apologies for Dissing, Demeaning and Demonizing Middle Class
There's a story of an ex hausted tenor at La Scala who, facing repeated cries of "Encore," responded that he couldn't go on. A man rose in the audience to say, "You'll keep singing until you get it right."
That seems to be the defining principle of the Obama administration -- whose response to every problem, every setback, every hiccup and challenge has been, simply, "more Obama."
Jonah Goldberg, Obama's answer for America: more of me
“I found this one to be too long, too political, and if he had an intention to reach out to Republicans, I can tell you it did not achieve the objective. Nor did I think it was as much an assessment of the state of the nation as it was a political tirade.”
--Senator Jon Kyle, Sen. Kyl: Obama Speech Too Political
The bottom line from last night was Obama basically said, "Things sucked when I got here and you're lucky to have me, even if you are too stupid to know that. I understand you don't like what I proposed last year and...I don't care. I'm awesome and you're not, so deal with it".
As I said the night of Scott Brown's election, Obama's presidency is over as he originally envisioned it. Apparently he hasn't gotten the memo and that's only going to deepen his problems.
Drew M., Obama's State Of The Union: I'm Awesome But You And That Bush Guy Suck
Barack Obama has lost his promise. He has lost his momentum. He has lost his touch. He has lost his filibuster-proof Senate majority. He has lost his first year in office.
Tonight, he lost his grip on reality.
--Michael Gerson, State of the Union: Obama's reality problem
The president gave a campaign speech tonight, but the Democrats had better hope that this is not what their campaign speeches are like this year. It was amazingly disconnected from the moment — treating and describing the public as downtrodden, depressed, but resilient, when the public mood seems more like fed up.
--Yuval Levin, The State of Obama
4) Ending the influence of lobbyists and operating transparent government remains as important a promise to make today as it was during the 2008 campaign.
3) Joe Biden is very, very bored.
2) The problem with Washington is that everyone is eternal campaign mode. Accordingly, everyone should follow the President’s example and limit themselves to no more than 158 interviews and 411 speeches per year.
--Rich Trzupek, Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night
Watching him list one costly agenda item after another, I couldn’t help feeling that we need a constitutional amendment that requires politicians to start promises with the words “I want to take your money and.” It might be that such a rule would constrain them, since I can’t imagine anyone having the courage to say, “I want to take your money and use it to pay off the college loan for that rich kid down the block,” and “I want to take your money and use it to help your plumber buy a new wrench.”
--Kevin Hassett, Cut-and-Paste State of the Union
After that bizarre, defiant, blame-dodging, position-ditching, doubling-back, credit-grabbing performance, I’d be inclined to call Barack Obama a joke. But protocol and manners require me to call him the president of the United States, and after all, we’re stuck with him in that role for another three years, at least.
I don’t really want to go down the road the left did, with their rabid hatred and childish insults of George Bush. It’s probably too late to swear off that. I’ve tried really hard to be respectful to the office and the fact that he holds it. But I’m beginning to get the left’s visceral reaction to everything our often inarticulate, chimp-like former president did and said. The difference between the Bush and Obama cases is, that clown-like cheering section notwithstanding last night, even Obama’s own stalwarts are rejecting half of what he does and says, and feel he has betrayed them and let them down.
Jules Crittenden, About Last Night
All in all, this was a nonchalant performance that ran for well over an hour. The president’s above-it-all cynicism, mocking, and dry humor didn’t work. The whole thing reminded me of a flat grad-school seminar with a snickering prof talking down to clueless students.
--Victor David Hansen, The Usual Straw Men, &c.
Obama's not the only one doubling down on stupid.
Did I ever tell you the slogan on the masthead -- the Mencken quote -- I got from the quote-page (you know, the epigram, or whatever, that novels start with) from the Christopher Buckley book Wet Work?
Did I also tell you the book sucked and I never picked up another Buckley book again? And when, for example, a girlfriend tried to get me to see Thank You For Smoking, I refused, knowing it would be a precious, fey pile of repressed-cum-wannabe-lurid crap like Wet Work was?
Yeah. He sucks. He's always sucked.
He continues sucking.
One can do the whole verb-inflection exercise for the verb "to suck" with Christopher Buckley.
--Ace, Chris "Rara Avis" Buckley: Watching Obama, I Was Beating My Dick Like It Owed Me Money
[NOTE: I know that, technically, Ace wasn't commenting on Obama's SOTU; he was commenting on C. Buckley's commenting. But, I thought it was funny and I wanted to include it.]
It sounds like an all-purpose speech for President Anyone: We've met here in good times and bad, war and peace, prosperity and depression, Shrove Tuesday and Super Bowl Sunday, riding high in April, shot down in May. We've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing. Each time we find ourselves flat on our face, we pick ourselves up and get back in the race. That's life, pause for applause . . .
There's no sense that, even as platitudinous filler, it arises organically from who this man is. As mawkish and shameless as the Clinton SOTUs were, they nevertheless projected a kind of authenticity. With Obama, the big-picture uplift seems unmoored from any personal connection — and he's not good enough to make it real. Same with all those municipal name-checks.
--Mark Steyn, Mister Speaker
"The president is going to explain why he thinks the American people are angry," said his spokesman Robert Gibbs, teeing up the State of the Union address. Is this what the American people crave? To have their anger explained to them by the person causing it?
George Neumayr, The President Who Knew He Was Right
I have watched many, many State of the Union speeches. This is the most partisan, least presidential of them all. His rhetoric, his glances at the GOP side, and his almost mocking tone at times — not to mention his over-the-top dissembling about the deficit, among other things — will not, I predict, improve his position with the public. Nor should it.
--Mark R. Levin, Tonight
Compiled by Mondo Frazier
image: DDBKP file
Originally posted at DBKP: Obama State of the Union: Conservative Reactions
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