There is plenty of speculation regarding what President Obama will say tonight during the State of the Union address. I am apathetic, and I would wager that millions of folks feel the same way. Why? Because over the past year, the president and his sharp-elbowed Chicagoan crew have shown that what they say bears little or no correlation with what they do and is equally detached from the stark realities this nation faces. This administration is at best politically impotent, at worst as dishonest and manipulative as the worst of the Beltway hacks they assailed while campaigning on the promise of a new, post-partisan era.
Just one year in office and President Obama has drawn the ire of virtually every segment of America—left, right, and everyone in-between. And rightfully so—he’s broken promises meant to entice all into opening their wallets for change and casting vote for hope. From his promises of a transparent and accountable government to the closing of Gitmo in one year, to the pledge of no tax hikes for folks making less than $250,000 a year, the president has fallen quite short of the lofty promises of his campaign, and in so doing, he has lost the trust of much of the nation.
The nation was promised an open and honest bipartisan debate on substantive health care reform. What we got was closed door partisan scheming with special interests that resulted in two (thankfully) stalled bills that don’t even address the underlying issues with our health care system. We were promised an end to the revolving door of lobbyists into the marble halls of Washington. What we’ve seen is lobbyists running through the proverbial door fast enough to power a field of subsidized windmill farms. (Wait, maybe there’s a green job hook there…) The president swore he would not sign a single bill until the American people had five days to read and review it. The inconvenient truth is that he broke that pledge with the very first bill he signed into law. No-bid contracts above $25,000 were going to be abolished. Apparently there were a few misplaced commas in the campaign literature. News recently broke that the company of a major Obama supporter was rewarded a no-bid, $25 million contract. The list goes on.
Failed promises aren’t the president’s only problems. Voters have woken up to the reality that even the promises kept don’t deliver the goods. Taxpayers were guaranteed that the billions of dollars in bailouts would not only stop rising unemployment numbers, but actually create millions of new jobs. We are now faced with double-digit unemployment numbers and the administration has the audacity to perpetuate their jobs “saved” myth—a non metric that would be laughable if it weren’t such a serious topic and egregious dereliction of leadership.
As the Tea Parties and the broader public dissatisfaction they represent, as exhibited in my home state of bluer-than-blue Massachusetts, Americans have rejected the false hope of big spending, big government polices that are the hallmarks of the left and this administration. It is time for President Obama and Congress to stop talking at the people and to start listening. A symbolic budget freeze will not convince Americans that net neutrality and cap and trade are swell ideas. Neither will better “explaining” the benefits of DMV-style medicine. Blaming George Bush is an SNL punch line, not a serious policy solution. Cut—don’t freeze—spending, end the bailouts and handouts, get government out of the way and let the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of the citizens of this nation allow it to flourish. The American people have spoken: more freedom, not more government, is both the principled and practical component for prosperity for all Americans. Mr. President: it’s time to start listening. A major course correction is in order.
John M. O’Hara is author of A New American Tea Party, a book chronicling the history and principles of the tea party movement. He is vice president of external relations at the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization dedicated to supporting free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives for a better Illinois.