President's speech not entirely true

Local columnist

link Rube Render

Every year the State of the Union speech is touted by pundits and hyped by television producers in an effort to convince the viewing public to tune in. Each year, less and less do.

The speech begins with a list of all the triumphs the current administration has achieved during the last year, followed by a laundry list of all the free stuff the public can look forward to in the future.

There is generally one statement in these speeches that is so incredible that it causes MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over).

At last year’s speech for instance, President Obama told the legislative branch of government, in their own chambers, that he had “a pen and a phone.”

He was essentially informing them that if they did not do what he desired, he would usurp that authority unto himself. One half of the members of this supposed co-equal branch of government stood and cheered the fact that they were being made irrelevant in the governing process.

This year’s fabrication was, “The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.”

Libya is a basket case at best, ISIL has not been stopped by American leadership as claimed, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has died, Vladimir Putin remains in the Crimea and a Shiite group armed and supported by Iran has overrun the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

In keeping with his “do things my way or else” policy for domestic challenges, the U.S. will continue drone strikes in Yemen despite the fact that the president of that country has resigned and the government is in chaos. There is a distinct possibility that Yemen, after being touted as a major success in our war against terror, could descend into another Libya.

The foreign policy accomplishments listed above are capped by the fact that Bashar al-Assad retains power in Syria. After President Obama told the world that Assad must go, he finds himself in the unenviable position of having Assad as an ally in the fight against ISIL.

The U.S. approach has moved from, “Assad must go” to “maybe Assad should change some of his policies.”

In struggling to find any “shadow of crisis that has passed leaving the State of the Union stronger,” I am left with only one possibility. Although the president neglected to mention it in his prepared remarks, Sen. Harry Reid is no longer the majority leader in the U.S. Senate.

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at:

[email protected]