"I could not imagine what the State of the Union address would have been like if Hillary had won the election."
This coming Tuesday will be the State of the Union. I think the hardest thing the President will do this month will be to encapsulate everything which has happened this past year, and then shine the light on the path going forward. Why? There is so much to talk about in such a short amount of time.
Here is what I hopes he talks about:
- OPEN FOR BUSINESS! - Oh, my goodness! What a year! The stock market took off after the election and has not looked back since. Let the good times roll! But it is not just about the market being up over 40% and setting almost weekly records. It is what is going on behind the curtain. Thousands of job killing regulations were killed last year. The President himself said on the first day he took office, he killed some very important ones. Then he took a two month hiatus. He and his team sharpened their focus. After that short hiatus, they have become a regulation killing machine. Are they done yet? Heavens no. To kill every needless regulation the Obama Administration promulgated will take months, if not years.
- Taxes - To go hand in hand with the point above, President Trump was able to get a historic tax bill signed into law. And it is a whopper. The President knew if he could get the corporate rate down to 21%, the floodgates would open. And they have. Trump was practically mugged in Davos by CEO's who wanted to once again take part in the American dream. Invest in America. Bring overseas back on shore. Not only has the corporate rate been slashed (I think that was the cornerstone), but also personal taxes for the middle class. Although I was hoping for more of a bold stroke on the personal taxes, all in all, I am satisfied.
- ISIS - Trump vowed to drive ISIS out of Syria and Iraq and we are about 99% there. How did he do it? He let the generals be the generals. Is the job done yet? No - the Islamic State keeps popping up in different trouble spots. We do however, have them on the run.
- Border Security - Better in 2017 than it was in 2016. Look for even more improvements in 2018 as "the wall" gets funded, chain migration gets curtailed, and the visa lottery ends.
- North Korea - Status quo. Has not gotten better, has not gotten worse.
- ObamaCare- Congress wiffed on the first pitch last summer. Still and issue which needs to be fixed. The mandate however, was killed in the tax bill. Meanwhile, many people are still getting hosed with sky high premiums, deductibles and co-pays.
- Education - On January 16th of this year, Education Betsy Devos proclaimed that Common Core is dead. Excellent! Now the next step Ms. Devos. Put yourself out of a job by killing this huge waste of space called the Department of Education. That would be a wonderful "looking ahead" goal for the President to share on Tuesday night.
- Military - Better, but not yet fixed. In the dark of night, I don't think many realize how badly Obama hurt our forces. It will take time and money to get them back to full readiness. The President is aware of this and has made it a high priority.
How was 2017? For the most part, very good. The world stayed at peace (relatively), the stock market boomed, and hundreds of thousands of jobs were created. The unemployment rate for African Americans now stands at a historic low. For the most part, ANYONE who wants a job, can find one. Maybe not the best job, but a job nevertheless.
I could not imagine what the State of the Union address would have been like if Hillary had won the election. Do you want to be thankful for something already this year? That would be a good place to start, Be thankful we have a President Trump and not a warmed over, crooked grifter like President Hillary.
45 has had a good week, other than his marriage.
ReplyDeleteSo I would expect Steven Miller will write a very good SOU address, outlining all of the things his base wan't him to do and he has achieved, even though I may disagree with their supposed benefits.
What I hope not to hear in the speech is:
1. Hillary Clinton
2. Russian Collusion Denials
3. Fake Media
If I hear those items mentioned, he is either off script or is mental problems (demons) are so great, he can't avoid them.
ps Starting with Trump’s inauguration, the Dow has risen from 19,827.3 to 25,075.1 -- an increase of 26 percent. That’s impressive.
But it’s not as impressive as its performance during the equivalent period under Obama. Under Obama, the Dow increased from 7,949.1 to 10,572 — a rise of 33 percent.
Isn't math fun?
On front page of SPPP this morning.
ReplyDeleteLocal faith leaders and churches also expecting big crowds during Super Bowl week.
I don't think the raucous fans from Mass and Philly are going to be spending much time in church. Their prayers will be heard from the downtown bars and restaurants.
Since 45 began campaigning, the racial divisiveness in this country has reached levels not seen since Jim Crow days.
ReplyDeleteJust the other day in my winter home, the deplorables decided to rally at the state capital.
Supporters of 45 singled out dark-skinned lawmakers, legislative staffers and children at the Capitol on Jan. 25 as they protested congressional efforts to pass immigration reform, according to staffers of the Arizona Legislature, AZ Capitol Times reported.
“Waving large flags in support of 45 while standing between the House and Senate buildings, the protesters, who were also armed, asked just about anyone who crossed their path if they ‘support illegal immigration.’”
One dark-skinned Arizonian who was asked if he was in the country “illegally” was Rep. Eric Descheenie (D-Chinle).
Rep. Descheenie is a Navajo lawmaker.
“I’m indigenous to these lands,” Rep. Descheenie said. “My ancestors fought and died on these lands. I just told them, ‘Don’t ask me that question.’"
God, I hate what 45 has done to America. Fostering this behavior from the bully pulpit of what should be the greatest office in the world.
So, ignoring Black Panthers standing outside a polling place with clubs, jumping to racist conclusions about legitimate police actions, fostering a climate of hatred for police based on FALSE stories about biased policing, calling half of the country racists and worse, inviting black criminals to the WH, and unconstitutionally violating immigration law supposedly brought us all together, but taking a common sense conciliatory approach to equality under the law, that's divisive?! Wow. The truth must really hurt.
ReplyDeleteRacial conflict has been a defining feature of the American political landscape for much of our history. In some sense, the partisan détente reached during the Jim Crow era essentially took racial policy disagreements off the table for a small number of decades.
ReplyDelete"Following the Civil Rights movement and the partisan realignment of the 1970s and 1980s, we began to slide back into the same patterns as before, where race and racial animus were quite central to the ways parties organized themselves. We are now seeing the consequences of that realignment come to full fruition. These historical forces, therefore, are probably far larger than any one or two presidents could fundamentally alter.”
You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." By 1968 you can't say "nigger" – that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff.
DeleteYou're getting so abstract now that you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is that blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it.
I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other.
You follow me -- because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger."
Your going to have to go a lot further than listing Obama's racial indiscretions to make me believe the GOP is not inherently racist.
There is a great gap between "inherently" and "overtly" racist. And what kind of bigotry suggests that half the US voting population are bigots? It won't fly.
ReplyDeleteObama's racist actions are obvious. Trump's are imputed and belied by his actual actions. The effects of his policies on black unemployment are already substantial, and his frequent commitments to reforming welfare and improving education, while anathema to the liberals controlling those institutions, are what is needed in the poor black community.
Every Republican I know treats people based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. The obvious members of the Democrat Party see them only as a "voting block."
The best year on all fronts. Think about that for a moment. If you want to know why congressional Republicans are opening an assault on the FBI in order to protect 45, it can be found in that comment. This was a year in which 45 undermined the press, fired the director of the FBI, cozied up to Russia, baselessly alleged he was wiretapped, threatened to jail his political opponents, publicly humiliated his attorney general for recusing himself from an investigation, repeatedly claimed massive voter fraud against him, appointed a raft of unqualified and occasionally ridiculous candidates to key positions, mishandled the aftermath of the Puerto Rico hurricane, and threatened to use antitrust and libel laws against his enemies.
ReplyDeleteHow totally odd. I did not see ANY of that, and I was paying attention. Oops, sorry. He DID fire the FBI director, for several very good reasons. The rest are either "alternative facts" or "fake news" or just raw, biased opinion.
ReplyDelete