SOTU = FLUFF

“After four plus years I can say, Oops….. never mind."

Nobody actually said those words last night, but if you read the speech and didn't listen to it, that sentiment was dripping all over it. If you listened to it, you know that "The Great Orator" would be able to tug on your emotions, for it or against it. That's why I have never really listened to any President's SOTU. Reading it keeps the emotions out of it and lets one have a sober view of what the speech's contents were.

Presidents Reagan and Kennedy were able to communicate to the people in terms we could all understand. Heck, Reagan was known by all groups as the “Great Communicator” because he was able to "dumb it down" to its simplest terms, without making us feel foolish.  

I generally don't have many good things to say about this President, as you well know. Since the 2004 Democratic convention, he has shown that when the lights and camera are on, he can deliver a great speech, but at the same time, he speaks to show you how smart he is in terms that confuse you and mask the meaning of the rhetoric.

It took President Obama over an hour to essentially tell us nothing without actually saying it. The implication drawn from the written words, if you could read through the fluff, you know, the marshmallow goop you put on peanut butter as a kid, was that we are not really better off than what we were in 2009.

He was unclear with the methodology how he could claim that Obamacare was registering so many people in Medicaid, when many of those numbers are renewals or in the ACA just because they signed on but may not have made their first payment because that part of the program hasn't been built yet.

I recently signed up to have Medicare Part B and the supplemental. It is not effective until February 1 because I only made the payment on the 18th of January. It's not retroactive so, unless these people actually made that payment, it doesn't count. By the way, that is how all insurance plans work: you have to pay for it to be effective. When he dared the opponents of Obamacare to make sure to provide numbers that "add up" when they offer changes, he forgot to mention that his numbers don't add up.

He is not alone. While he talked in platitudes and accolades of a bunch of rehashed campaign nonsense, the Republican response was no better. There were the same old negative talking points which to me, is nothing new and different. There was no real offer of new ideas, just the same old nonsense. No wonder why people, in general, are not inspired by either party in the House, Senate and the President.

Just to be clear, here is a note to the “All Stars” in the President's office, Congress and the media. It's an Executive Order, not Executive Action that the President uses to violate the Constitution. Executive Action is the conspiracy to commit or actually commit an assassination of a President or other leader.

The President, at least, used the right term as he admitted he will be violating his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. As for John Boehner's response, "It doesn't affect anyone now", really, that's it? The appropriate response should have been "impeachment if you try it."

So, to sum up, the State of the Union is no better today than it ever was. One thing is clear however, we can fully expect more of the same gridlock we have witnessed since 2011 until summer recess. Then, Members of Congress will be off campaigning for another term.

Where is the peanut butter? I prefer jelly…..