Reviewing the State of America’s Union

Almost a week after Barack Obama’s 6th State of the Union address to a seated bicameral United States Congress; after much hoopla has been made of that just-over-sixty-minutes speech, I can, honestly say that the United States is not in a good place. But not for the reasons you might think. In fact, my colleagues and I have argued for more than two years now that the United States is on solid economic ground. We have even argued that China may crow for all it can; it is still, more or less, a third world country. A few months ago, we chastised Europe for bowing to austerity movements. Last week, the European Union’s central bank decided to do what the United States has been doing to its economy. After all, it turns out that austerity is bad and quantitative easing is really, REALLY good for capitalism. And so, the world’s richest economy (China is, perhaps, the world’s largest economy) is standing strong. Jobs are being created. The deficit is being reduced. People have a better sense of their future. And of course, everyone knows that things are getting better.

But not if you occupy the Conservative Movement or consider yourself a proponent of Republican Party.

And here, I am not talking about being a Republican in Name Only (RINO). You must be hardcore convert to actually believe that the United States is in dastardly quagmire. As far as you’re concerned, Barack Obama is, apparently, not only the devil, but also America’s weakest president. More on dissonance: Fox News, that infamous mainstream news outlet, says, at the same time, that Barack Obama is a dictator and a weakling – an oxymoron of Shakespearean proportions. Some Americans are so high on the anti-Obama juice – aka Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS) – that the more good stuff happens, the further they drift into despondence. So desperate they are for a negative story that they will even go on to invite a head of state to address Congress without consulting their own head of state. Barack Obama’s White House has to endure a certain Binyamin Netanyahu, current Prime Minister of Israel, who, in March this year comes to lobby Congress against giving negotiations and diplomacy with Iran another chance. Not only do the Republicans in Congress care more about Israel’s security, they are willing to sacrifice America’s security for it. Such martyrs, eh?

That’s why Obama’s latest State of the Union address was such a pain in their backsides. Much of what Obama said was not only true, but also delivered in a way that really hurt. In watching Obama speak, one would have expected many Republicans to want to heckle the President. But their leadership must have given them a tongue lashing and a warning. No one wanted to sacrifice their semblance of sanity. They trotted out their new poster child for normalcy, and Joni Ernst, junior senator from Iowa delivered. Her thunder was stolen by responses from Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and a motley crew of others. It was almost decadent in its display but also laughable to see what America’s other ideology has descended into.

And how did the Republicans respond this weekend? They launched their pageant for potential presidential candidates. Sarah Palin was there, and boy was she incoherent. But that was the secret, I guess. The audience LOVED her. They also loved all those people that had something negative to say about Obamacare and the President’s executive action to prevent 5 million people from being deported. Ben Carson, a now retired neurosurgeon – who hopes to be president of the United States of America – even suggested that even if Obamacare was working, he would not support it. The Iowa audience was stridently against Jeb Bush’s potential candidacy. They were, egged on by Donald Trump, not happy that Mitt Romney was considering another run. These things have left us wondering: What do the Republicans want? And of course, we hope that the manufacture of these species is being put on hold, at least for the next 2 years.