An Unconvincing & Incomplete Speech

Throughout his tumultuous and controversial tenure, President Barack Obama has wasted time, words and energy claiming that America’s challenges are not of his making. Sadly, what America heard during his State of the Union address last week was only more of the same. Instead of offering a plan to move the nation forward, his speech was largely an attempt to defend his unfortunate record of failed policies and hide the larger problems overcoming our country.

Rather than leading the charge to solve the unmistakable problems in our midst, the president has greatly increased our long-term economic woes, severely underestimated and failed to address threats to our national security and ignored constitutional limits to the powers entrusted to the executive branch of government.

But I was concerned most by what the president chose not to talk about during his speech. Especially considering that his administration has racked up more debt than any other in modern American history, I was disappointed that President Obama failed yet again to offer a plan to balance the federal budget or express his intention to present any proposal of the sort. More than ever before, we ought to be talking about how to bring down the deficit and pay down the debt, particularly given the very slow recovery during the recession of 2009 and 2010. Despite claims to the contrary, however, the president has consistently shown that he is more interested in advancing policies—like Obamacare—that add to our massive debt, instead of coming up with reforms to pay it down.

Similarly, many hardworking Americans are still struggling to find decent paying jobs to support their families and households. Unfortunately, the president again failed to suggest ideas for creating jobs, sparking wage growth and lowering economic disparities in our society.

Finally, in terms of perceived security and reputation abroad, there’s no question that the country is weaker today than when the president took office. Despite mounting threats around the world, he offered no real strategy to confront unrest in the Middle East and diminish threats both at home and abroad. In particular, I was frustrated that he glossed over the threat posed by ISIL/ISIS and his anemic efforts to contain and destroy the enemy. During his administration, this dangerous foe has not only gained territory in Iraq and Syria but has launched terrorist attacks around the world, like the one in Paris, and incited senseless violence in our own country, as we saw with the shooting tragedy in San Bernardino.

After seven long years, the sun is about to set on the Obama Administration, and yet the president’s recent speech indicated that he is frantically trying to rewrite history in order to salvage a legacy not likely to be treated favorably by history. Instead of attempting to defend his poor record, he should have pledged to spend his final year in office focusing on what can be accomplished by finding common ground with Congress.

However, while the president missed the opportunity in his State of the Union address, I am confident that Republicans in Congress will continue to focus our attention on the issues of utmost importance to Americans. This year, I am hopeful that lawmakers will rightly focus on providing real solutions to grow the economy, create jobs and keep the nation safe from dangerous enemies.