After watching and re-watching on various channels, I have to say honestly, that's exactly how I felt about how our President sounded. The word that immediately came to mind was: "Appeasement", which infuriates me. I suspect his final speech may have been changed when it was noted that Paul Ryan would be the Republican delivering the Rebuttal. Why should that affect the speech? Because Ryan is the House Budget Committee Chairman and the Republicans just passed a rules resolution giving him unilateral authority over spending! Naturally he's going to say - hello - NO to every piece of legislation from Obama that requires spending. BTW: to my knowledge (and according to everyone on the news, including the Republicans) giving ONE person full discretion over spending has never been done before. Hence, to me, our President sounded more like a man ready to beg for crumbs than a man ready to do battle to save Social Security, Medicare, our environment and even Health Care Reform. It was the speech of a man willing to compromise, in part to appease Ryan and, naturally, to ensure a 2nd term.
And I just don't get it - any of it.
I also don't get (well, I do, but no one believes the truth) the sudden desire by the Republican Party to do away with SS and Medicare and why the Democrats aren't using that to ensure victory in 2012 as opposed to
I'd actually love to know how many Americans actually believe those 40% deserve to be poor because they're over 65 (and/or disabled) and obviously failed to properly prepare for the future. Does most of America feel that way? And if not, why aren't we yelling from the rooftops, demonstrating in front of Congress every day of the week? Why aren't we writing, calling and emailing? And if we do believe it's their fault - why do we believe it? After all, how many Americans saw their entire pension plan disappear in the last few years as corporations cheated and stole their retirement money? How many Americans saw their entire future monies disappear when Wall Street panicked and crashed? Why can't Americans understand this type of thing is exactly WHY President Roosevelt signed the OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance or RSDI as it was also called, for 'Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance') into law back in '35 as part of the New Deal?
He saw what happened in '29, knew that it wasn't laziness that put so many good people out into the streets and he knew - KNEW - it could and would happen again and, more importantly, understood, within his frame of reference at the time, that it could happen to anyone. He understood that disasters, illnesses, and shoddy business practices (not to mention illegal) could and would destroy private pension plans. So tell me, how is it he could foresee these future disasters and mandate a safety net, but today's America can't or won't?
How is it he understood that ONE horrific illness, even when an individual was covered by insurance, could still wipe out a family's entire life-savings, but the Americans of today can't, even though it's happening every day? Or that as a result of losing everything, seniors would be left without medical coverage due to their age? That insurance companies have no heart for anything but a healthy bottom line?
I realize SS and Medicare aren't perfect, but they're also two of the most misunderstood 'laws' we have, laws that have changed so many times, with each party and their agendas mandating the changes, that it's head-spinning. Fortunately, most of the changes were for the good (after all, when first signed into law, it was for MEN only - white men - which is why I used the phrase 'frame of reference' earlier for Roosevelt). I also have to
I also wonder why the numerous disasters we've experienced in just the last 10 years aren't being mentioned by ANYONE as a major contributor to the financial trouble we're in (and I include 911 in that list), all of which are still affecting this nation in more ways than most Americans bother to find out about. Katrina, just on the surface, cost $110 billion in damages (btw: Republicans love to state how fraudulent cases cost us a big chunk of that, but in point of fact, fraud resulted in a little over $1 billion. Guess that means the bulk still rests on Katrina, the bitch! *snigger*), and 400,000 jobs were lost - many of which never reappeared. The BP oil leak, just in clean-up costs alone, are estimated at $760 million, but the damage to the coast? The lost jobs? The long term monetary/economic/ecological effect?
I dare you to find any kind of real effort to give honest estimations - the truth would damage too many high powered folks, but we all have to know in our hearts that the effects now - and in the future - will be horrendous, long-reaching and, if BP doesn't eventually declare bankruptcy, leave us to take on the bulk of the burden.
I also wonder when there's a major fire or flood and hundreds of homes and acres of land are lost, what Americans think happens afterward? What do they think the costs are, insurance wise, medically, and so forth? Do we think once the 'fire' is out, all is well? That the costs of putting out those fires or cleaning up after the floods isn't in the millions and sometimes billions? Who do Americans think are paying for the Fire Departments and the costs accrued? And where does America think the money will come from to PAY those bills? Payroll, equipment, and health issues that go beyond insurance? And how much are we responsible for the current state of affairs, financially speaking? Like how we use those little plastic things in our wallets and the loans we think we can handle, but hey, who could know Joe would get cancer and our insurance wouldn't cover the treatment he needed so we had to...or Harriet didn't get the promotion we planned on...or college tuition was higher than anticipated... or...yeah, you get the idea. And does America really believe that ONE man, in less than 2 years, could get us where we are now? Do we not remember WHY he had to bail out Wall Street and that the problem didn't occur overnight? Does everyone really think that on December 31, 2008, all was well, but by the end of January, 2009, we were headed straight for Hell?
Okay, it's "In conclusion" time, because by now, anyone reading is beyond bored *g* so I'll end with Appeasement as my final word on the SOTU and for we, the American people, I think I'll say we're half-way between total apathy and complete hatred fueled by fear, neither of which will get the job done. :(
