SOTU reactions: Steyn, Krauthammer, Spackle

If you skipped Obama's hour-long defense of big government last night, you didn't miss anything you can't catch up on in five or ten minutes this morning.
From a few who watched so the rest of us wouldn't have to:

Mark Steyn:

The "new Obama"? All I saw was a dull dissembler, inadequate to the charge history's given him. 2009 buzz word: "Stimulus." 2011 Clinton-era revival: "Investment". Either way, it means "massive government spending". On what? "Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 per cent of Americans access to high-speed rail"?

Good grief, how can even the hackiest of Big Government hacks read that line with a straight face? Or think it has any meaningful contribution to make to the crisis we face? "Within 25 years"? There isn't going to be a 25 years if the spendaholics don't stop spending, and then cut it, drastically. Instead, President Blowhard tiptoes up to the edge of bold, decisive action:

Now, most of the cuts and savings I’ve proposed only address annual domestic spending, which represents a little more than 12 percent of our budget. To make further progress, we have to stop pretending that cutting this kind of spending alone will be enough. It won’t.

And then what does he propose? Nothing. This man looked the future in the eye, and kicked the can down the road.

Read the rest and give thanks to your God for Mark Steyn.

For Charles Krauthammer's response, watch this ninety-second video at Gateway Pundit. In short: The speech was a flop -- just a call for more spending and an assurance that Democrats are still the party of wildly irresponsible spending and monster government. No reference to the elephant in the room: last November's rejection of the Obama agenda.

Got another ninety seconds? Biff Spackle captures the gist:

America! Hopes! Dreams! Civility! Al Sharpton's shiny blue suit! Taco Bell's new crispy burrito with extra cheese! All of these things, plus an enormous, doddering federal bureaucracy, determine whether new jobs and industries take root in our country.

Look at all the progress we've made in saving the economy from the worst crisis since the Great Plague:

We passed a historic health care bill that no one read and fewer understand. Over at the EPA, we're using a leaf-blower to dispense new regulations and set industrial policy. We've issued oil drilling moratoriums. passed a financial reform bill that didn't address Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Took over the student loan business and two failed auto companies. Blew out a trillion-dollar stimulus package that kept the public sector union bosses in clover.

It's steps like these that have kept unemployment well below 20 percent!

Many people watching tonight remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at Bill Ayers' house for a fundraiser -- or teaching ACORN hacks how to intimidate businesses. But the world has changed: more people frown on domestic terrorism and rampant vote fraud than in the old days.

And the world operates faster now: China and India are moving towards capitalism, which gives us the opportunity to redistribute our wealth to them. See, we tilt towards a command-and-control economy, impoverish ourselves, which means we use less of the world's resources. Which is more fair.

Blah blah blah, founding fathers, yada yada yada. Free enterprise. Sputnik. Solar shingles. California smelt. Green jobs. 400 million green jobs by 2020.

RTR.

More analysis linked on the right in "Today's recommended reads."


Many thanks to Michelle Malkin for the Buzzworthy link. 

Most recent posts here.