Hello
SOTU reflections after the jump.
I think i've probably seen 40 SOTU addresses. I don't remember all of them and i can't say that this was the best i've seen, but it was easilly one of the best, one of the boldest, and actually one of the most entertaining.
Hitting it out of the park was never really in doubt. That's what Barack Obama always do in the clutch. Being eloquent and smooth and moving, wasn't in doubt either. Not even being so calm, relaxed and funny in his first SOTU, under very tough pressure. But slapping everyone - Not just the Republicans and the media - But also the Supreme Court, his own party and HIMSELF, from start to finish - That i did not see coming. Nor did i expect this speech to have so much substance.
But what i was sure more than anything else was that he'll just ignore the punditocracy. He won't go more to the Left, he won't go more to the Right, he'll stay the same as he's always been: A rare combination of Liberal heart and pragmatic mind.
I will say only one more thing: Barack Obama's vision for America is fabulous. He is the only adult in the room and he's also as Liberal as this country will be willing to put in the White House, at least for now. In the political climate we're in, with the Right getting crazier by the day, and now that even the Supreme Court is corrupted - Barack Obama is more or less the only thing stands between America as we know and love, and becoming a Banana-third-world-militant-dictatorship. I pray that most people will realize it sooner rather than later.
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This picture tells the entire story of this speech in my eyes. Raymond Joseph, Haiti's Ambassador to the U.S, and Michelle Obama:
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Some of my fave quotes from the speech:
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"Let me repeat: we cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95% of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college. And we haven't raised income taxes by a single dime on a single person. Not a single dime". - Facts. So overrated.
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"I thought i'll get some applause from that side"...- Ha. Republicans. Bunch of sad hypocrites.
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"The plan that has made all of this possible, is the Recovery Act. That's right – the Recovery Act, also known as the Stimulus Bill" - Yo, media. This is NOT the Bailout! It's the recovery act.
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"So tonight, I'm proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat". - Eric Cantor and John Boehner faces: Just priceless. idiots.
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"From the day I took office, I have been told that addressing our larger challenges is too ambitious – that such efforts would be too contentious, that our political system is too gridlocked, and that we should just put things on hold for awhile. For those who make these claims, I have one simple question:
How long should we wait?
How long should America put its future on hold?
You see, Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China's not waiting to revamp its economy. Germany's not waiting. India's not waiting. I do not accept second-place for the United States of America". - In other words: Grow the fuck up already.
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"I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer-subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, let's take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. And let's tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only ten percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after twenty years – and forgiven after ten years if they choose a career in public service. Because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college". - One of THE best passages of the speech. This president's commitment to education is unheard of.
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"And by now it should be fairly obvious that I didn't take on health care because it was good politics". - Haa. Self Humor! What a concept.
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"I take my share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people". - Haa. Honesty! What a concept.
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"By the time I'm finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance". - There, Mr. president, you found how to explain it as clearly as possible.
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"At the beginning of the last decade, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion. By the time I took office, we had a one year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. That was before I walked in the door. Just stating the facts". - Yes, John McCain, he will "blame Bush", because IT IS bush's fault, you tool. Could you be any more dishonest??
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"Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that's why I'm urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong". - OH NO, YOU DID NOT just slapped the Supreme Court! Poor Alito went home crying.
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"But at a time of record deficits, we will not continue tax cuts for oil companies, investment fund managers, and those making over $250,000 a year. We just can't afford it". - Bye-Bye Bush tax cuts. Don't let the door hit you in the Dick Cheney.
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"But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day. Neither party should delay or obstruct every single bill just because they can. The confirmation of well-qualified public servants should not be held hostage to the pet projects or grudges of a few individual Senators. Washington may think that saying anything about the other side, no matter how false, is just part of the game. But it is precisely such politics that has stopped either party from helping the American people. Worse yet, it is sowing further division among our citizens and further distrust in our government". - In other words: Grow the fuck up already.
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"To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills" - In other words: Stop being Democrats already. Seriously, so you lost one seat. Enough with the bed-wetting.
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"And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions".- In other words: You're assholes.
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"And in the last year, hundreds of Al Qaeda's fighters and affiliates, including many senior leaders, have been captured or killed – far more than in 2008". - This wimpy Dem can't defend the country.
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"We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August" - So let's see, what was the campaign promise? 16 months. And this would be what, 19 months?
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"We are working with Muslim communities around the world to promote science, education and innovation". - That's really great. I did not know about this. Quite a failure for Obama cheerleader like me...;)
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"The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates into silly arguments, and big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away". - Or as Jake Tapper admitted: "Obama has been forced to deal with more downright falsehoods than any president i know". Indeed.
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My Administration has a Civil Rights Division that is once again prosecuting civil rights violations and employment discrimination. We finally strengthened our laws to protect against crimes driven by hate. This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. We are going to crack down on violations of equal pay laws – so that women get equal pay for an equal day's work. - Pfffff, just like Bush.
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"Our administration has had some political setbacks this year, and some of them were deserved". - Dude, enough with the honesty.
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"What keeps me going – what keeps me fighting – is that despite all these setbacks, that spirit of determination and optimism – that fundamental decency that has always been at the core of the American people – lives on.
It lives on in the struggling small business owner who wrote to me of his company, "None of us," he said, "...are willing to consider, even slightly, that we might fail."
It lives on in the woman who said that even though she and her neighbors have felt the pain of recession, "We are strong. We are resilient. We are American."
It lives on in the 8-year old boy in Louisiana, who just sent me his allowance and asked if I would give it to the people of Haiti. And it lives on in all the Americans who've dropped everything to go some place they've never been and pull people they've never known from rubble, prompting chants of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A!" when another life was saved.
We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment – to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more". - Tears, applause and couple of minutes to feel really good.
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