I watched President Obama's final speech as President of the United States earlier this evening. Predictably, I was annoyed by much of it notwithstanding the fact his tenure in office will soon be down to single digits.
With that, here are the 10 things from the speech which really annoyed me.
1. Keeping Him Honest
President Obama claimed that conversations with everyday Americans kept him honest. Somehow that didn't stop him from telling everyday Americans if they liked their health insurance, they could keep it.
2. Shutting Down Iran's Nuclear Weapons Inspection Program Without Firing a Single Shot
Well, actually he gave away the store not to mention $400 million in exchange for American hostages without telling Congress & the public humiliation of our Navy sailors on Iranian state television. Of course, Iran has been violating the terms of the deal with regard to heavy water. A normal President would have ripped up the deal, but since the deal is the centerpiece of his foreign policy his administration loosened the terms. Unless Trump reverses the deal the only thing that will be let loose is an Iranian nuclear weapon.
3. Obama is Still Bragging About Killing Osama Bin Laden
None of which stopped the rise of ISIS which he dismissed as the "jayvee squad". That jayvee squad controls vast amounts of territory in Iraq, Syria and Libya and has launched attacks in this country and throughout the West. More on this later.
4. Race
President Obama said that "race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society." And no one has used race more divisively over the past 8 years than President Obama whether it was calling his own grandmother "a typical white person", accused the Cambridge Police Department of "acting stupidly" even while acknowledging he didn't have all the facts, saying Trayvon Martin could have been his son and his encouragement of the racist Black Lives Matter movement. Sure he paid lip service to the white middle class, a group of people he characterized as bitterly clinging to guns and religion.
5. Ethical Lapses
Obama did pose this interesting question:
How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? It's not just dishonest, it's selective sorting of the facts. It's self-defeating because, as my mom used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.
But when it came to Hillary Clinton's ethical lapses concerning her e-mails, President Obama was perfectly happy to undercut the FBI investigation by telling 60 Minutes it wasn't a matter of national security or when he invoked executive privilege to cover then Attorney General Eric Holder's behind in the Fast & Furious scandal (something which a federal judge ruled he could not do) or his protection of Lois Lerner in the IRS-Tea Party scandal. Talk is cheap but reality never caught up with Obama.
6. Obama Actually Claimed No Foreign Terrorist Organization Had Successfully Launched a Terrorist Attack In This Country During His Tenure
And then in the next breath mentioned the Boston Marathon bombing, Orlando nightclub attack, San Bernardino shooting and the shooting at Fort Hood. I seem to recall something about the Russians warning us about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Nidal Malik Hasan communicating with Anwar al-Awlaki, the then leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen and the Orlando and San Bernardino attackers pledging allegiance to ISIS.Last I checked ISIS means the Islamic State of Iran & Syria. For Obama to suggest no foreign terrorist organization committed a terrorist attack under his watch is an insult to those who died at Fort Hood, in Boston, San Bernardino and in Orlando.
7. Russia & China Can't Match Our Influence Around The World
Russia seems quite happy to conduct peace talks in Syria without us while China is building man made islands in the South China Sea in a matter reminiscent of Japan prior to Pearl Harbor. Soon they plan to place missiles on those islands. Obama is delusional if he thinks Russian and Chinese influence haven't grown at our expense under his watch.
8. Obama Claims It Is Harder To Vote
For all the rhetoric that Republicans are suppressing the vote, I defy Obama to show me one person eligible to vote in an election who was deprived of doing so.
9. Obama Pays Lip Service To The Constitution
The President referred to the Constitution as "a remarkable, beautiful gift". Yet this didn't stop him from making recess appointments when Congress wasn't in recess (something the Supreme Court rebuked him on in 2014), unilaterally legalizing illegal aliens and announcing changes to Obamacare from the podium of the White House press room without Congressional approval.
10. Obama Lectures Us About Political Discourse
This is typical Obama:
America, we weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character aren't even willing to enter into public service. So course with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are seen, not just as misguided, but as malevolent. We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others.
This from the man who said Republican opposition to Syrian refugees was a recruitment tool for ISIS. Somehow I don't think Mitch McConnell is powerful enough to compel one person to behead or burn alive another human being. Obama is the last person we need lecturing us on the state of our political discourse.
No, I am not looking forward to the Trump presidency, but I'm more than happy to bid Obama goodbye and good riddance.
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