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Further Reflections on Benghazi
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A Further Perspective
Obama Gives an Awful Speech
Not that it matters (even to him).
In last night’s SOTU address, Barack Obama came out firing on all cylinders — eight chambers in sync with one another: these being the president’s love of self, his contempt for his adversaries; the vapidity of his rhetoric; the absence of anything remotely resembling an original thought; the never-ending conceit that the whole world revolves around him and his (puerile) leadership; the profusion of meaningless sentiments (e.g. “We know our economy is stronger when our wives, mothers, and daughters can live their lives free of discrimination”); the obviously fabricated statistics (“Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy”); and the blithely repeated falsehoods (including such howlers as the claim that Obamacare won’t add “a single dime” to the deficit… along with the further claim he already succeeded in cutting four trillion dollars from future spending … and the even more bodacious falsehood that “my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up oil and gas permits”).
With all the appeals for bipartisanship, Obama did his best to hide his contempt for the unenlightened, non-progressive minority. So this was a more cloying performance than many expected.
Because the president did not come out spitting and snarling, it would perhaps have been inappropriate for the Republicans to walk out en masse in the middle of his speech, as Aaron Goldstein suggested in this space earlier in the day. But they might at least have guffawed at some of the howlers, and have followed Vice President Biden’s example in yawning and rubbing their eyes.
If you have read Dreams from My Father, you know how much Barack Obama suffered as a young community organizer in trying to get people in any position of authority to take him seriously. He felt angered and humiliated at having to work so hard to gain a measure of acceptance from local politicians and pastors in Chicago’s Southside.
But he seemed to be enjoying himself last night.
Even if it was a truly awful speech.
And that goes to show that there is nothing a socialist/progressive loves more than a captive audience.
About the Author
Andrew B. Wilson, a frequent contributor to The American Spectator, writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (78) | Leave a comment
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Burlington| 2.13.13 @ 6:59AM
Thanks for your review. I couldn't stand to watch the speech. Did anyone count the number of references to himself? Was Alito there?
Drunken Sailor| 2.13.13 @ 11:22AM
No Justice Alito was not there. He sat out along with Justices Thomas and Scalia.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:24PM
I'm assuming that John Roberts was there, wearing a Prom Dress.
Or, was it a Bustiere, Black Stockings, Garters, and Six Inch Heels?
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 2:55PM
He and Obamarx did do a huggy kind of thing at the beginning.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 2:57PM
Actually, it wasn't really a hug. More like a long eye to eye thing that seemed to say "Your place or mine?"
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 3:48PM
Keeping in Character.......did you get my Email?
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:53PM
Oh, yeah! I've already forwarded it to most everyone on my contact list. I was wondering, though, how my wife got to Baltimore for the party without my knowing it.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 5:21PM
Hey.
Tits happens.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 5:48PM
True, that....
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.13.13 @ 8:06AM
I tried to tune in on the radio two different times, and couldn't listen more than a sentence or two before I switched back to "Willie's Roadhouse" on the satellite radio.
Maxwell| 2.13.13 @ 8:14AM
I watched the dog show last night & cleaned the bath room.
If I had watched the SOTU address last night I feared for the safety of the TV.
John Navratil| 2.13.13 @ 8:37AM
Maxwell,
For the first time since the Nixon administration, except for one year when I was in the news blackout that is Saudi Arabia, I did not watch the SOTU address. I simply cannot stand to listen to that staccato delivery and the way his sentences trail off at the end. It means his lips are moving.
loulou| 2.13.13 @ 10:24AM
He has a speech impediment. Something with the letter S. He whistles. Very annoying.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 10:54AM
Loulou,
I think the "ssss" in his S's puts his followers in a trance-like state. It conditions their little minds to fully embrace what they are about to receive.
Drunken Sailor| 2.13.13 @ 11:23AM
When you speak with a forked tongue you sound like a snake.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 11:30AM
Beautiful!!!!
Drunkenness becomes you.
Drunken Sailor| 2.13.13 @ 2:09PM
Must have channeled my Native American ancestors. I have no recollection of writing that.
Ghost posting? That or I could have been drunk.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:01PM
Are you related to Senator Pocahontas from Massachusetts? It seems that would be sufficient reason to maintain a semblance of a stupor. Not that you have to have a reason. I don't.
Drunken Sailor| 2.13.13 @ 4:29PM
Good lord I hope not? I prefer to tell people I am descended from Tecumseh and the Shawnee Prophet. That is at least somewhat (barely) closer to the truth than she was.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 7:45PM
Which brings up the question: Is it possible for obama, a Halfrican American, to speak with a forked tongue, or must you be 100 percent white, and male?
I don't know the Native American by-laws on the subject.
I'd blame it on the booze nonetheless. After all, Hemmingway and Kerouac created their best work while under the influence.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 7:46PM
That would be Hemingway, ONE "m".
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 7:49PM
Can't speak for the Swabbie, but so do I.
Tom Kyba| 2.13.13 @ 12:10PM
I've been annoyed by this whistling SSSSS of his for years now. I believe it`s totally contived and he thinks he sounds more thoughtful and statesmanlike when doing it.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:26PM
He does have a Speach Impediment.
He can't tell the truth.
Anthony| 2.13.13 @ 2:41PM
Ah loulou, you've figured it out!!! Obozo speaks parceltongue to his fellow members of Slithern. Obozo "voldermort" speaks to his minions in a language we at Griffindor don't understand. That's why they still love the guy and we can't figure out why.
Grzmlyk| 2.13.13 @ 2:20PM
I watched it for as long as I could stand that piece of fecal matter, which was about five minutes.
What blows me away isn't what a callow, bigoted, ignorant, angry, self-absorbed, delusional, mean-spirited, character-free, pathological, lying narcissist he is.
It is that anybody - ANYBODY ON THIS PLANET over the age of 11 - cannot see through this malevolent non-entity.
Any adult (or even teenager) who does not see what Obama is really shouldn't be allowed to dress themselves in the morning, much less go out into the world.
I realize that people hitch their wagon to his "star" because they share his juvenile view of the world, or because they believe his being black trumps all else, or because they, too, are vandals who want to destroy this country, or because they are crooks who in one way or another make their living off of the rape of the Americans who make this country work.
But these are NOT the people who should be citizens of this country. Perhaps we should deport the 51% of MORONS who voted for a piece of sewage for president to their own desert island so they can destroy each other and let us continue to execute the blueprint the founding fathers so wisely laid out.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:33PM
Does H. Sanderson know you're saying these things?
Anthony| 2.13.13 @ 2:48PM
I'm afraid it's going to come to that Grzmlyk, civil war, winners takes all, losers get booted the hell out of America.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:05PM
Nope. Fracturing is what's going to happen. There will be the Old America (us) and the New Amerika (them). There will be a mass migration of the takers to Amerika and a mass migration of the producers to America - assuming Amerika lets them leave.
Grzmlyk| 2.13.13 @ 3:12PM
But they know deep down that without "makers," the "takers" aren't long for this earth. That's the dirty little truth of socialism. Or, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher's, eventually, you run out of other people's money.
Socialism is slavery - a parasitic economic system; once it kills the host, it dies shortly thereafter, and these liars know this.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:26PM
Grz, except for the fact of the abject stupidity of our particularly American brand of takers, you would be correct. Our takers will believe anything their messiah tells them. They will gladly go waltzing off to the gulags.
Grzmlyk| 2.13.13 @ 3:08PM
Seems to me these bastards on the left would jump at the chance to go off and create their little pristine, hug-filled Utopia in which equality for EVERYBODY (everybody except each and every one of THEM, of course) reigns supreme, a world of unselfish perfection unsullied by the selfish greed of free marketers, a world in which childish dreams are unpunctured by the pin-prick of an adult world view.
But what fun would that be? The real joy of being a leftist isn't the promise of multiculturalism or social/economic/racial justice or everybody paying their "fair share" or even the apotheosis of professional victims.
If you're a leftist, The real joy of being a leftist is grinding other people under their boo theel. Subjugating other people to their will. Coercion. Bullying. Hurting. That's what gets your average, run-of-the-mill leftist up in the morning. Just look at the history of troll comments here. Without exception, they reveal hatred, grotesque fetishizing of power and an unbridled sense that, as long as they say the right things, they have a Gaia-given right to bust a few heads.
It's too bad so many Americans enjoy lying supine before a lash wielded by sadists intoxicated by the smell of blood.
Al Adab| 2.13.13 @ 8:28AM
Same old rabble rousing, campaign demagogury through which we have spent four long years suffering. The man is shameless and a true believing man of The Left. Opposition is the highest form of patriotism.
Joellen| 2.13.13 @ 8:54AM
I too did not watch or listen to the Liar in Chief spew his rhetoric.
No, instead I sat in my bible class with a true mix of beautiful minds and heard the word of TRUTH. Three of us are Roman Catholics, One converted Jew, and four Christians.
We read and discussed Esphesians 6:10-24.
Revelations: 16:14; 1st Timothy 4:1 and Mark 1:23.
No such thing as a coincidence.
Read these chapters and tell me this does not pertain to these times.
No such thing as a coincendence. Get Ready folks put on your armour of GOD and stay alert.
Jack in Wi| 2.13.13 @ 10:46AM
Joellen: I go to an eccummenical bible study. We are all Catholics and the teacher is a Methodist graduate fellow in Hebrew scriptures, at a Catholic university.He is quite good we only have to correct him a few times a night. The guy we had last year was also a Methodist graduate fellow at the same university in Hebrew scriptures. He thanked me at the end of the course for the great dialogue. He said he was surpised how good we were in biblical studies. He graduated last year and this chap is graduating in June. Both were pretty strapped for funds. I guess a phd in Bible studies isn't the best paying propostion. We took up a collection for both of them to help them get started.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:07PM
Jack, laudable to say the least. The conundrum for me; how does ecumenical Bible study lead to anti-Semitism?
Jack in Wi| 2.13.13 @ 11:20PM
I learned in Bible study that God told the Jews to love their neighbors as themselves [ Leviticus ]. I also learned that God told the Jews in Exodus and Leviticus to treat the aliens and strangers among them as they do themselves. It seems to me you are the antisemite here. The Palestinian's have been in the neighborhood for thousands of years and are the nearest descendents of Abraham, David, Solomon. They are cousins of Jesus and the Apostles. By what right do you keep oppressing, killing, and torturing them? It is time for you to return to God, the Torah and the Commandments. Quit the murder, stealing, lying, and coveting of your neighbors property. Shalom.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:35PM
Revelations?
Timothy?
You coulda stayed home, and just read Me.
Hardcard| 2.13.13 @ 9:12AM
If there trully was an oppostion party (rep) they would have departed the assembly the second this socialist/marxist traitor took the podium to deliver his alinsky manifesto but in reality they stood, applauded and kow-towed on command. Bengahzi, 7 trillion deficet in 4 yrs, fast and furious, and I could keep the bullcrap flowing, but at this point what does it matter. NO MAS NO MAS !
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.13.13 @ 9:24AM
Is Roberto Duran also registered to vote in Chicago at least once, or could he have been persuaded away by Marco Rubio's rebuttal en Espanol?
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:38PM
Rubio is not The Great Brown Hope.
Far from it.
My Ticket would consist of Rand Paul, with Ted Cruz as his Running Mate, and You and Me as their Campaign Consultants, plus Pesco, in case we need to send out for Pizza.
mike 3/505| 2.13.13 @ 3:06PM
I'll be SECDEF. First thing I'll do is get rid of General Order Number One, in all combatant Commands. Second thing I'll do is make sure the Class VI is open 24/7. Finally, I'll institute a policy, no combat tour, no promotion.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:11PM
I wanna be Secretary of State. First thing we do is say bye-bye to the U. N. and kick their ass out of New York. Better their headquarters should be in Tehran or Pyongyang or Cairo. I would then give State Department employees unfettered access to the SecDef's class VI stores. This is an effort to keep their minds right.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 3:50PM
Thirdly, I'll open up the Bars on the bases to Ladies Nights, Free Drinks, and Strippers.
Over and Out.
Drunken Sailor| 2.13.13 @ 4:33PM
Can I be in charge of the ATF? First act, a bottle of bourbon with every firearm purchase. What could go wrong?
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 5:19PM
Maybe you should be in charge of the ATF AND the DHS. Think of the possibilities.
Pecos Pete| 2.13.13 @ 5:06PM
I wanna be the King of Pizza (KOP) ... pronounced c o p. For those that can't decipher my cipher ... Attorney General. My first action would be to write a short letter to President Paul stating: "Sir, all elements of the federal government NOT authorized by the Constitution be promptly, and forthwith, eliminated, terminated, exterminated, and eradicated so that the Citizens can be emancipated. Very Respectfully, Pesco"
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 5:21PM
In other words, a pizza with EVERYTHING on it. Works for me.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 7:50PM
Except mountain oysters.....
Pecos Pete| 2.13.13 @ 8:02PM
Awwww!
Anthony| 2.13.13 @ 9:30AM
So Obozo came out firing all eight cylinders you say Mr. Wilson?
Doesn't that violate Obozo's assault weapon ban? As Gov. Cuomo would say, "how many bullets do you need to kill a RINO"?
Did Obozo hold up a clip as well? Maybe he got permission from David Gregory.
OregonBuzz| 2.13.13 @ 9:45AM
There is, after all, nothing new in the universe.
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and given him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the new wonderful good society which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious." --Marcus Tullius Cicero
WRTolkas| 2.13.13 @ 10:13AM
Bravo OregonBuzz, Bravo.
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 3:14PM
If ever a line from Shakespeare was appropos to this bastard (and he IS a bastard, Arnie - look it up.) it's "Yon Cassius has that lean and hungry look."
cuban pete| 2.13.13 @ 8:10PM
KJ
This one from Henry IV I ii aint bad either.
"There's neither honesty,manhood nor good fellowship in thee"
Falstaff to Prince Henry
KennesawJack| 2.13.13 @ 8:21PM
That, too. Thanks.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 10:46AM
It's sounds like very few here watched the speech, so I'm guessing no one watched the "analysis" afterward?
I'm guessing no "analyst" put pen and paper to his proposals to increase minimum wage AND introduce millions of brand new low-skilled workers to an already depressed job market? Eh?
And how will this minimum wage increase affect manufacturing and competition with China?
And how will this insane emissions trading scheme affect the manufacturing, energy, and constructions industries? ....and the job market?
And just how will refinancing home mortgages and re-introducing no-down-payment loan programs help "rein in" big banks?....
But I'm sure George Stephanopoulis spent 20 minutes discussing the "tone" of his speech.
An un-serious president and media in extremely serious times.
Dispiriting and depressing.
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:42PM
Here's my Analysis.
If last night was Opposite Day?
Then, he gave a Great Speech.
Hardcard| 2.13.13 @ 11:05AM
georgi soros also enjoyed obamao's alinski babble, that georgi sure gets his money's worth!! I see the prep for a third term, our boy king O is only 50 years young, he needs more time for the transformation. At this point what does it matter? hillary will be 70 and too old to run, she would rather stay at home with umma and the little weiner.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.13.13 @ 12:54PM
Perhaps the reason that Bill Clinton has never been known to tweet even covered photos of his erection is that with his rumored Peyronies disease, too many would recognize him for the crooked man that he is.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 2:08PM
Al, pardon me for taking your hanging curve ball but does it bend leftward or rightward?
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:43PM
I think we all know the answer to that one.
Bob Grant| 2.13.13 @ 6:34PM
Monica never gave me the low down, or is it down low?
Does "down low" also apply to gay white men?
I'm now officially confused.
Thanks TLP!
Louis Jenkins| 2.13.13 @ 12:56PM
Little Weiner? I though the Old Slhick Mister was well off. The Mister likes the little thing that Hillary does with her mouth, she shuts it and goes to sleep.
Who Knows?| 2.13.13 @ 1:35PM
There was an Obama speech last night?
That's news to me.
Hardcard| 2.13.13 @ 2:16PM
SSDD it was de javeau all over again, same lies , same liar. No problem the north koreans will resolve this issue soon "the big bang theory" hey you didn't build that!! ahmeddidnoshit says up yours to Bibi and bite-me. Give me your guns, ATF and big sis are armed to the teeth and are here to help. Our military is being neutered, and obamao is sending F-16's, weapons, our tax dollars to his moslem brothers. What me worry??
TLP| 2.13.13 @ 2:45PM
Thank You, Alfred.
Can I assume that you'll be joining us this Friday?
1ConservativeUSA| 2.13.13 @ 2:20PM
Last night's SOTU was a statist's dream. No real solutions, only lies, feel good double talk and mollification of the stupid and weak.
All Alinsky, all the time.
old progrmr| 2.13.13 @ 3:50PM
I never thought that in my life I would see such outrageous liars as those offered to us by the Leftist Party, I mean not only Obama, but Pelosi, Reid and, of course, Hillary. If we had an honest, unbiased journalism profession in this country, these people would be a laughing stock with no real credibility. It is difficult to understand how Obama can make a statement like he cut spending by $4 trillion dollars and that he has added 6 million jobs when the FACTS contradict ALL of these statements. The problem, we will never, ever see a jounalist ask him to substatntiate any of the outright lying statements he makes. Maybe one of you leftist progressives out there can tell me just how this unprincipled fraud can make those statements with a stright face. My real concern is that he has been fed this BS by Valarie, Axlerod and his other handlers and he is so ignorant, disengaged and sheltered from reality that he actually believes this "stuff". He is an incompetent narcissist living in a make believe world, far removed from reality; and that is , indeed, frightening.
Hardcard| 2.13.13 @ 4:14PM
But of course !! At this point what difference dose it make? Where is Gen. Petraeus these days and the chick (CIA operative) that set him up? Just asking.
Pecos Pete| 2.13.13 @ 5:12PM
Didn't watch it. Didn't read it. Won't watch the replay. Won't read it. Don't care.
I do care about the future of the USA. The next four years are going to be soooooo painful.
Fiscal| 2.13.13 @ 9:36PM
Every politician lies (shades the truth) -- on BOTH the right and left. There are more lies on Fox News than MSNBC, but not that much more. The problem is that we have an uneducated electorate. Most of you believe that you can solve our fiscal problem by cutting the budget. That shows you guys don't have a clue and have never worked the budget numbers. Most of you believe that economies are stimulated when you cut taxes even though virtually all of the detailed analysis shows exactly the reverse. Most of you think the economy is really in bad shape when corporations in this country, and the stock market, are profitable and strong.
Those on the left are even worse, because they have not worked the numbers either and think that there is no limit to what you can give.
We need to get rid of career politicians -- not vote for anyone running with a law degree -- and give each candidate a mathematics test to insure they understand basic arithmetic.
Fiscal| 2.13.13 @ 9:37PM
It is a pity that you guys actually believe the lies you hear from the right. It is even more of a pity that liberals on the left think that money grows on trees. The truth is that until we force people to actually pay for what they get and feel the pain, there is no incentive to cut the budget and the left wins. We need to tell seniors that Medicare and Social Security are taking the future away from our children and so is the huge spending for the military. We need to tell people on the right that cutting discretionary spending is like spitting in the ocean to raise the tide -- there's just not that much there. Simpson-Bowles were on the right track. It's too bad the ideology on both the right and left couldn't figure that out.
spike59| 2.14.13 @ 5:43AM
"Fiscal?"
having read your drivel, i believe you need spell-check, because the word is spelled F-E-C-A-L
Fiscal| 2.14.13 @ 8:13AM
Thank you for confirming my portrayal of the average responder here. Did you know it was common practice to capitalize the first word in a sentence and also the pronoun "I"?
I am sincerely happy that hearing the truth makes you angry.
spike59| 2.15.13 @ 5:36AM
let me know when you ever plan on spewing out even the tiniest nugget of 'truth', and we can check my reaction, Fecal
Jimbobogie| 2.16.13 @ 1:25PM
Unfortunately, Marco Rubio's "response" drew as much negative comment-not necessarily for content, but for the image of a frightened young man who had never spoken in public before.
Let's rumble| 2.16.13 @ 3:04PM
Here's the problem as I see it. We have been hoodwinked by an entire party last time around. It is now crystal clear we are on our own. So when anyone is spoken of as potential leader the stench of doubt and false flag operations cover the good as well as rino. Stay vigilant. When it craters we will get our chance.