Great speech Mr. President, and you drew clear distinctions between where the dems are from the repubs.

He's a great leader, did you hear about the Somalia rescue? It's the repubs that aren't working with Obama, he's reached out much more than the repubs, and the polls bare that out.

The republican response was typical, exaggerating the state of the economy, planting seeds like "trickle down government" to confuse the discussions about republicans holding onto "trickle down" economics.

All in all, an A performance Mr. President.

Obama "doesn't even try?" Are you joking? Please look up the word obstructionist.

Obama is hardly the first POTUS to have a less-than-agreeable Congress to work with. I don't recall Clinton praising Congress too often when they were impeaching him, yet he still managed to whip them into shape. That's what a leader does: he leads, and does whatever it takes to make it happen. Obama has displayed zero ability or fortitude for such a challenge during his term in office. I typically vote for Republicans but at this point I'd even take Hillary, because at least she'd actually do something.

Jon

you are so misinformed. Or just plan stupid. This Congress has openly said they would not do one thing while this president is in office. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it. People like you wouldn't give this president a drop of credit for what he has done to clean up Little Bushes mess.

chuck

Back up your statement, please quote exactly who stated they would not do one thing while this President is in office. I do not believe I have ever heard that before. I have heard a remark about making Obama a one term President and I completely agree with that. But I have seen the Republican controlled House try to get things done while Obama is president,only to be stopped by the Democrat controlled Senate. So get your quotes out there chuck, I want to know who exactly said that, or did you make it up?

chuck - JS is right on brother.

Amazing JS how people want to make up there own set of facts as though they can some how reach into the lens of history and re-write cinematography. Obama could announce a cure for cancer and line up 1000 people who have already benefited and folks like you JS would have the same old tired response.

LEARN HOW TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT IS DUE. Then join the rest of the thinking citizens of the US.

OBAMA IN 2012, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE.

Sorry, I just cannot stand the man and his socialist agenda.

Congrats, you can cough up GOP/TP propaganda.

This just in: this country has had socialist elements since before FDR. You go to public school? That's socialist.

JS in SD

It could be that you will NEVER be satisfied with anything this president does. You may want to think about one thing though... you don't like what he did, what he tried to do, or what he says he will or wants to do... try looking at the GOP side of "do"... not much there, huh?... more like "don't". But with so much "Bush" to fix (wars, taxes, funding, economy, regulations, inefficiencies, getting our faith back in government), we need someone with "do" in their thinking.

If the President was lying, give us an example. Was he lying about the killing of Osama bin Laden? The complete withdrawal of US troops from Bush's war of choice Iraq? Was he lying about the auto industry recovery? Was he lying about the oversight on Wall Street? I suspect you didn't even listen to his speech. There were many initiatives that were new in his State of the Union speech which you classified as the "same old crap".

I miss the Republican party that didn't whine, throw fits, and cry every time something happened. Maybe that's why they used to win elections. The Democrats are doing there job. When will the Republicans? I miss my thinking conservatives.

@hjack

Really? Lost respect of all other countries? I remember going to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2004 for a song festival (largest in the world, actually) and meeting people from across the globe. We constantly asked each other "Where are you from?" When I replied, "the US", the frequent reply was, "I'm sorry." Note, this was during some of the worst moments of the first George W. Bush administration. We returned in 2009, and such a reply NEVER happened. Not once. While you may not like Obama's policies and/or practices, to state that we've "lost the respect of all other countries" is simply false, pure and simple. A study in 2008 found that the only country where Obama was not favored over a Republican candidate by a substantial margin was...the US (at the time he was neck-and-neck with McCain). His election brought MANY countries back to favor with the US after the Bush years. Research shows it. Non-partisan research shows it.

@hjack, you must be confused, it was under baby Bush we became "the laughing-stock of the world." Rest easy, President Obama has fixed that 100%!

Of those who watched President Obama's State of the Union Speech last night, nearly 80% rated it average to excellent.

The American population is not 80% Democrat. He is given credit even by his opposition. Despite all the Republican negativity and the baseless attacks against the President, his message came through loud and clear.

Obama was elected to his office in a free and fair election. Now Congress needs to get behind him and let him do his job.

If they can't get behind him, then they need to get the hell out of his way.

hjack

Absolutely the worst leader this country could have. We have lost respect of all other countries because of his hollow rhetoric.

I guess while living under a rock you don't get out much? Look at the blogs. Go to Europe and talk to people... hear what they say...

The biggest buzz about "us" outside of the U.S. is a confusion as to what in the hell that Republican party is doing. It must be lonely being GOP nowadays... all that hate... all that isolationism... never wanting to chip in or cooperate... taking the global economy down and all. Cheer up, it'll get better some day.

I miss my thinking conservatives.

Derek, that's a great example of an oxymoron...is there such a thing as a "thinking conservative" anymore?

It seems to me that all conservatives do these days is huddle in fear and pray for the Rapture.

Words are cheap. Actions are tough. As a owner of a small manufacturer with 100 employees (the kind of person that hires others) I heard from the speech...Wants us to expand manufacturing, but my costs are going up for health care, compliance to all the new regulations, materials cost me 10% more domestically than my competitors overseas because our costs to do business are 20% higher, outside of making the products, than our bigger trading partners. He wants us to invest in equipment and people , but I get taxed at 35% for the company and then my personal pay is taxed again at 40% including state taxes, and THAT is NOT enough! What I pay in taxes, I don't have to invest in new equipment and therefore don't need more employees. I 100% agree that more manufacturing jobs is a great thing...especially for those requiring skills. You want everyone to make more money...get unemployment down to 4% and those wages will go up!

The democrats and the republicans in congress both played their obstructionist game.It wasn't one or the other it was both. Republicans in the house and the democrats in the senate.Obama is still playing the same game he knows that his proposals are going to fail. But when they do he gets to blame the republicans. He is setting them up to fail. He is only doing these things to gain a political advantage over the republicans. The represenatives in D.C. and the Pres. are a bunch of losers.

arney-3665069

Sorry, I just cannot stand the man and his socialist agenda.

What little I have to be distributed amongst the masses is pure crap!

Been drinking Tea, arney? Lots of Americans seem to have a warped view of what Socialism is.

Public highways are one of the finest examples of Socialism in America. So are public schools, public parks and public libraries. Not to mention Social Security and Medicare. And police departments and town garbage collections and public health care and so on and so on. Even benefits provided for Congress Members are a form of Socialism.

Same old lies, different day. High unemployment, even higher national debt, bond rating lowered, high gas prices, but he's doing such a wonderful job.

@kaybeetoys, Yeah, I know, its a dying breed.

That's why I lovingly refer to the common breed of angry, red-faced radicals who PRETEND to be conservative as the Douche bag party.

Thinking conservatives exist throughout history. It isn't like you can't disagree with their point of view, but nobody would ever call them stupid. They are people like Kissinger, Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, and lets not forget a current, Robert Gates. Some may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but that doesn't mean they don't think in a way that makes sense. I personally did like Ronald Reagan for that reason. You know, the poster child for the Douchebaggers, even though no Douchebagger would let Ronnie into office if he were running today.

But the Douchebag reigns, and they just hate when you point out that their top priority is being angry, and then AFTER that, being selfish. And they want a big government to do that, even though they say otherwise.

This is vintage Obama saying what he concludes people what to hear while doing something entirely different. I especially liked the part where he criticized those that say America can’t pay its bills and insisted we could. Why then is it that we have an ever growing massive debt and we even have to borrow the money to pay the interest in this debt monstrosity? That is a sure indication that we can’t pay our debts but as far as Obama is concerned, imposing his ideology requires him to keep running up the debt because the sooner we devolve into socialism, the better.

As expected, he also made the time to drone on about the wealthy needing to pay more taxes, ie; their fair share. However, he predictably ends it without providing any specifics about exactly what his vision of fair share is. Over these past many months IRS data has shown the top 1% pay 37% of the taxes collected. Obviously Obama doesn’t consider this their fair share so why doesn’t he ever say what he thinks their fair share should be? Accordingly, the top 5% pay more taxes than the other 95% combined. Why doesn’t he tell us how much more they should be paying? He talks about eliminating the gap between the rich and the poor. The only way to do that is to impose Marxism which means the gap is eliminated by making everyone equally poor.

Finally, I have little doubt that his rhetoric plays well with the gullible and society’s leechs.

I love how the liberals on here say that what I posted is BS but can not refute a single thing in my post. That is because even they can not lie like Obama and say things like that the health care reform was never meant to have a public option. They know full well that Obama fought tooth and nail for a public option but could not get it through. Now Obama tries to claim that was his plan from the start - talk about revisionist history!!! If any of you liberals can, please refute a single thing I posted. Otherwise shut up and stop calling other people's posts BS unless you can back it up!!!

To say that Obama has made us a laughing stock throughout the world is beyond misguided. You don't have to agree with his politics, but it was Bush and his hawkish foreign policy that made us despised throughout the developed and developing world. I was just in Indonesia (you know, the place Obama studied when he was younger that sensible people say gives him a worldwide perspective but rednecks say makes him a Muslim) and the perception of America and Americans was extremely positive. This, compared to how we were viewed by the rest of the world when we were ignoring the UN and starting wars over faulty intelligence and invisible WMD's, is one of Obama's finest achievements and he should make this front and center in his re-election campaign. Yes, he has many flaws and could have done many things differently and better but the ridiculous rhetoric from the haters, coupled with the fact that the GOP is not running any sane, worthwhile candidates, will ensure that those who do not subscribe to the Faux News mentality go vote for Obama in November.

ALL RIGHT OBAMA!!! AMERICA!!!! F*** YEAH!!!!!!!

I did get quite a kick out of his little story telling of the killing of Osama. Hollywood must have given him the script of the movie. At least now I'll know what I missed when it comes out right before the elections and I don't bother watching it. You think the 1%'s in Hollywood support Obama?

1/20/2013 - the end of an error

Repubs are not obstructionist? They have used the filibuster more than any other congress in the history of America, and by a huge margin. They have refused to do their constitutional obligation of voting on presidential appointments more than any other, leaving dozens of administration jobs unfilled. They have openly stated that their number one priority is to make Obama a one-term president, regardless of how much pain that causes the American people. The repubs have a vested interest in keeping unemployment high and the economic recovery slow for the next year. They have put power and party far beyond the needs of the country, all in the hope that the electorate will blame Obama and the democrats next November. I think most Americans can see through the rhetoric and the repub nonsense this time.

Wet Willy-- The part about paying our bills was in reference to the debt ceiling debacle in which some Teapublicans were willing to default on our good faith and credit. And S&P lowered our credit rating due to the mere threat and resulting delay in raising the ceiling -- Way to go Teabaggers.

In regard to fairness, specifically taxation, the effective percent of taxes paid is what's at issue -- In other words whether a1%er like Romney should pay an effective tax rate of only 13.9% while others who who earn far less should pay a rate of 30%. The stats you provide are completely meaningless to this fact. That you use the term "Marxism" indicates you're a crazed wing-nut who hasn't figured out that you are paying a higher tax rate than Romney, or knows it but somehow thinks it's a good thing. Talk about gullible.

As for the rest of the right-wing riff raff in this thread, let's hear some real solutions from you and your idiotic leaders that's not the same crock of crap that got us into this economic mess in the first place. *crickets*

JH-479998 -- Your post #1.31 is unpatriotic, untrue, and just downright offensive. Please feel free to go away anytime, and don't let the door hit ya in the arse on your way out.

GOP/TP, you have been put on notice. Obama/Biden - 2012!

For some time it has puzzled me why there are so many reich-wing trolls on these forums. Did they not know this is "biased outlet for the liberal left? (Fox News, 2010) Then I realized it: Fox News Entertainment doesn't allow comments or feedback on their stories. There is no debate, only programming. Pun intended.

JS in SD -- ...They know full well that Obama fought tooth and nail for a public option but could not get it through. Now Obama tries to claim that was his plan from the start - talk about revisionist history!!!

Not that anyone one cares what you think or what you demand, but you are the one making this claim. You back it up or you STFU!!!

This should be easy enough for a Liberal to understand...

Obama Economic Record

Inauguaration Day Today Change

Unemployed Americans: 12 Million to 13.1 Million - 1.1 Million worse
Unemployment Rate: 7.8% to 8.5% .7 % increase
Federal Debt: 10.6 Trillion to 15.1 Trillion and growing
Price of Gas: $ 1.85 Gal to $ 3.39 Gal = $1.54 more per Gallon
Misery Index: 7.8 to 11.9
Debt Per Person: $ 34,731 to $ 67,000 almost doubled
College Tuition: $ 6,591 to $ 8,244 = 25% Increase
Worker Health
Insurance Costs: $ 3,354 to $ 4,129 = 23 % Increase
Food Stamp Recipients: 32 Million to 46 Million = 45% Increase
Americans In Poverty: 39.8 Million to 46.2 Million = 6.4 Million Increase
Home Values: $165,700 to $147,800 =13% DECREASE
US Global
Competitiveness: 1st to 5th = Drop 4 Places

November can't come fast enough....

Another $5 trillion in DEBT since HE took office, the Oabamabots blame it on Bush....

There are FEWER jobs in this country now, than when he took office. Not more....

Health care costs have RISEN, not fallen...

I'm tired of hearing about "jobs saved" or other hocus pocus about what "could have been" if he hadn't saved us...

I read the posts here from the supporters of our Campaigner in Chief and have to conclude they're not from this planet. I know that , of EVERYONE I know personally, NONE of them would tell me they are better off today, than they were three years ago.

The rout in November will be worse than the mid-term elections. Of course, you'll never read anything on this site that could be construed as negative against Obama, and he'll get a free pass as he did three years ago during his re-election run.

Thank G-d for other news outlets, or I'd never know the other side of what's really going on.

TruePatriot

What in my comment 1.31 was untrue? What was unpatriotic? And what exactly offended you? Even though I don't care what offends you, I just thought I'd ask. Did you catch the President's speech? If so, you must have heard him talk about the job the soldiers did when killing Osama. He just has a knack for storytelling that really came through in that part of his speech. That is why I have a hard time believing anything that he says. Is it fact or fiction? Is it just in his little mind or in a Hollywood script?

MTMike, be careful, you will confuse them with facts if you aren't careful. When they can't refute, they just attack. It's amazing to me how many can't see the facts.

Stand and deliver 1.35

I suppose the fact that people with conservative views would visit such a socialist web site as MSNBC would puzzle you. You see, open minded and reasonable people have their convictions but endeavor to seek out opposing viewpoints to gain a more balanced perspective.

You, on the other hand seem to be content to be continually and exclusively spoon fed the socialist rhetoric that abounds on this and some other websites to appease your ideologically crippled mind.

Great Job dadoftim! Did you notice Obama tried to claim Master Locks decision to move back to Milwaukee, WI. as a victory for his administration, when in fact Governor Scott Walker deserves 100% of the credit for undoing former governor Jim Doyle's jihad on manufacturing in Wisconsin. Obama has no shame, no integrity, no worthwhile ideas, no spine, no leadership, no future in politics.

Derek is your typical idiot liberal. They aren't ALL like him, he just name calls, he can't back up anything he tries to say. Especially if it's a fact you throw to him.

It's hard to be a good leader, coach, partner, or President of the United States when half of the team (Republicans) are rooting for, and acting for, you to fail. Ever heard of a winning team, AT ANYTHING, where half the players DID NOT SHOW UP with a positive attitude and a "can-do" outlook?

If Republicans and Democrats stand together to applaud - the President has outlined common ground and set the proper tone.

The political hacks on these vines can spout all the nonsense they wish. Our government is a representative democracy - and all our representatives applauded the President - together. If you did not like the message delivered by our President - then your representative in Congress is not representing your view.

The President presented a laundry list of small proposals. Our current Congress (and current politics) is not capable of achieving anything big or bold. The President gave Congress a lot of low hanging fruit that Republicans and Democrats can pick - together.

Anyone that has been a leader understands that it is much better to celebrate small accomplishments than try to justify big, bold failures. The President, being a leader, understands that our elected government needs to re-learn how to accomplish something.

Great speech, I am impressed, he is going to get rid of all the interest on student loans, he is going to let me lower my mortgage to 3.5%, he is going to tax heavy those family's making more than 500 K per year (2.5K individuals) he is going to tax all foreign goods(treaty problem, cannot impose a tariff on treaty's wto, NAFTA, most favored nation), he is going to rebuild the nations infrastructure, health care for every-one; this is indeed the promised land.

Mike in 1.38 and MtMike,

I am going to help you out here, so that you can understand the situation a bit better and understand why the debt keeps going up and will keep going up no matter who is President and no matter how much you cut spending.

First of all though as to why the values in MtMike's post, while accurate, are, in a way, taken out of context.

A lot of those numbers, like college and personal debt, were not caused by Obama's policies. College costs have increased by over 3000%, over 3000%, over the past decade. They were increasing under the past three Presidents and in a trend that has not really increased in it's pacing over that time. Every year there are tuition hikes, just like in every other industry.

This is because there is no regulation on how much a college or company can raise their rates or whether they have to show that they are justified rate increases. Instead we let the free market decide by saying that customers will not use the servers that are overpriced. Problem is in some cases there are no other choices. Almost all TV/Phone/Internet services are locked into a duopoly scenario where the two companies collude with each other and raise their rates together to keep people from changing to a different carrier. They also use that power to block out mom and pop start ups and to keep investing into network infrastructure at a low level.

Some outlets to no do this but Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, and Qwest (now CenturyLink) do have these practices. This is why the free market does not work with out rules that make everyone play fairly.

This comes back to my other earlier point areas. College costs can keep rising if all institutions raise their rates. It locks out competition and makes them a fat pay check. Again not all colleges do this but many of them do. The information the peddle has no changed in value one cent since it was created, only the perception of what the resulting degree should cost. It is not free market principles that are fueling the price increases, it is gaming the markets to get the maximum profit without losing customers. American's will take this because we have been trained through decades of price hikes on our most necessary services that we come to expect and accept that prices will always rise with the expectation, or maybe even hope, that eventually they will go down again.

Every year a lot of industries disappoint us by raising the rates again, maybe next year will be the year they lower prices so let's wait it out. Another year of hikes another year of hope. It may also be that it would be too difficult to move to another provider. How many colleges are going to let you take credits from a degree that you have not completed and move them to another institution? Some might, maybe quite a few, but for some that is not an option so they are stuck.

Now for the rest of those figures that MtMike posted.

first jobs. Mike how many jobs would have been lost if Obama had not taken the actions he did? Answer honestly, you do not know, no one does. No one has a crystal ball so to say that less jobs would have been lost or that we would have not jobs is a lie. You do not know that for certain. All we can look at is the rate at which jobs were lost compared to before Obama and post Obama.

The figures tell a different story then the one you are trying to paint with your post. Before Obama took office we were losing jobs at a rate of at least 425,000 a month starting in September of 2008. That rate only increased through the rest of the year.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/

January of 09 was the worst total with a loss over over 740,000 jobs. After that it bottomed out a bit but there were still large spikes throughout most of 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/business/economy/03jobs.html

In January 2010 we only lost 20,000 jobs in January:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/05/news/economy/jobs_january/

I do not have the time to find a article for every month till now, but the data shows that after 2010 less jobs were being lost then in the heyday of the collapse. What cause the staunching of job loss is debatable though I suppose.

Anyway the bigger this is the debt. One of the reasons, besides spending (yes I concede this to you but read later on) was that Bush refused to put expenses for the Afghan/Iraq wars onto the Government budget. The result was direct to deficit spending to the tune of $980 billion when taking into account both wars and only counting veteran's expenses from the Afghan war. You would need to add a trillion more to that total when including the veteran costs for the Iraq war through 2050.

One of the first things Obama did when he came into office was to place the cost of the wars into the Government fiscal spending budget. This is one reason his spending totals are as high as they are. Bush's would have been similar, though lower, if he had placed the spending onto the budget as well.

Another area that inflates our debt is tax cuts. Cuts reduce what we have to spend with. Cutting spending in critical areas cannot be done to an extent that it would matter. You cannot cut too far into defense spending or that undermines the security of the nation; normal security for that matter, we do not need some departments that were created post-9/11 anymore like DHS or the TSA. Fold them into the FBI or CIA.

You cannot cut too far into social security or medicare as tens of millions of people rely on these to help them during retirement and also to help pay their medical bills after they retire. People on fixed income cannot afford health care in this country, it is a fact.

We do need to crack down on welfare and medicare fraud however. People that abuse the system are taking money from the people that truly need it. This is not accomplished by cutting funding for these services but by enacting stronger reforms that will keep fraud either from happening, less realistic, or better background checks on claims, more realistic. If you send someone out to a first time business filing for medicare support and find that it does not exist, you can dispute the claim.

Taxes also pay for fixing infrastructure, something that private businesses will not do. There is no way to gain money from investing in it and so they see doing so as throwing money away that is best spent elsewhere. Our infrastructure is probable more most important non-social spending area in the country because without it we cannot do business. No water? Cannot operate factories, build houses, or open schools. No roads? Cannot get anywhere to get necessities or get to work. No power? Might as well give up everything you own and go live in a log cabin out ion the woods.

Taxes pay for all of these and they are critical areas where spending cannot be cut too harshly.

The reason we have a ballooning debt problem is because tax income is at an all time low and has been ever since 2003. Forget all the partisan bitching from both sides and look at the facts. The Bush Tax Cuts lowered everyone's tax rate to the lowest in any point in our history and now after 7 years of them we have a debt issue that has gotten progressively worse over that time. When you spend more then you take in, you create debt. When you cannot cut spending enough to make up for that lost funding you have to increase taxes, that is just a fact of life.

Bush should have rescinded his cuts when we started up the wars. Everyone knows you cannot tax less during a war, it puts too much strain on the economy. It may have been what brought the system to the ground. Sure the mortgage scams had a big part in it, but it may have been the straw that broke our backs.

Everything else you have state is directly related to a bad economy not directly linked to Obama's policies, except maybe Healthcare in 2013 (not now though, ObamaCare has not come into effect yet).

More people are on food stamps because a lot of people have given up finding a job that they can do. The technology sector is red hot right now but almost no one has the skills they are looking for and they will not hire someone without having those skills.

There are more on welfare also because we have a huge number of people that are under employed and cannot make enough money to feed their families and pay the electric bills, mortgages, and for gas.

That is also why we still have a lot of foreclosures. People that were able to pay their bills before the recession now see their income clashed by at most 50% and now they cannot swim because of that 50 lbs weight that has been attached to them.

Until wages start coming up we are going to have to deal with these problems and they will persist. The only economic indicator in a capitalist economy is wages. The higher the wages are the more people spend on stuff. The more they spend the better the economy does by adding jobs to meet demand. This is why out sourcers are fleeing from China now. Their standard of living has increased drastically and now workers want higher wages to support their new life styles.

Growing economies demand higher wages. To deny higher wages is akin to shooting yourself in the foot before a 100-yard dash. You set yourself up for major issues by refusing to meet the cost of living by increasing wages and allowing the economy to grow. Growth does not mean wealth for the top it means wealth for everyone that is a part of the system.

Geowil

Your thesis is incorrect!

The government bailing out business and entitling people does not save the economy, it creates a country that becomes dependent on government and workers who are lazy.

These crooked corrupt business's should of failed in America and the workers for such, would of created NEW jobs and business's to REPLACE THESE CORRUPT CROOKS. Instead, the CROOKS were REWARDED by the corrupt politicians, WITH TAX PAYERS DOLLARS AND THE THIEVES KEEP RIGHT ON STEALING AND BUYING POLITICIANS!

The Auto Industry is a dinosaur industry, producing a product that is too costly, by the government propping such a industry up, the government delayed the inevitable collapse of that industry, this did not fix the problem, just kicked the fiscal can down the road!

All the corrupt bankers and mortgage industry should not have been bailed out! Letting the air out of the economy slowly, as is now being done, with foreclosures, did not solve the problem of people making bad decisions and buying something they could not afford and once again, the crooks were rewarded at the expense of tax payers, delaying the inevitable collapse of those industries.

WetWilly, When you can't beat them in an argument, might as well make up a personal attack. So, if I'm "content to be continually and exclusively spoon fed the socialist rhetoric" How do you suppose I know that comments can be left on MSNBC and CNN, and not Fox "News" Entertainment?

Me? I'm not into personal attacks. You made yourself look stupid. Trolls: if the shoe fits...
You mad brah?

MtMike,

So you are saying that we should allow one of our few manufacturing bases to die off? Not that I do not agree with the free market principle but most of these things that happened in 2008 were all interconnected and not caused by natural economic events.

The banks, no question, should have been left to rot, they were the key figure head in the mess. However the auto industry tanked as a fallout from what the banks caused when people stopped buying cars and expenses generated by those companies became a huge problem because of lax sales.

If the auto industry had collapsed under it's own weight because of bad decisions made then I would support your idea wholeheartedly, but that was not the case here. It was a unilateral failure on multiple front that caused their problems. You could say that drying up sales exposed an underlying wound that could be fatal, yes, but under normal circumstances that would was never going to be opened up.

There are jobs that American's cannot do and private sector will refuse to do. Could you imagine a privatized education system? The costs for going to such schools would probably mirror today's college and university institution at all school levels.

Some areas just have to be subsidized by the tax payer through public sector involvement. No Government is not a realistic solution, extremely low levels of Government aren't either. You have to strike a middle ground between that is necessary and what is not and fund those that are while either cutting funding or removing agencies altogether from the not needed side.

Merging like agencies in Government can also be a path to take. Perhaps we merge the CIA and FBI. Give them all one major headquarters building to work out of and close down the other field offices no longer needed.

There are many solutions other then slashing all the tires on the Government bus, and in fact deflating all of the tires means you go no where fast. We should not be promoting no or little Government but an efficient Government that is no bigger nor smaller then it needs to be based on the demands of it's people.

he took 24 days, leaving 36 on the table, turned it down because they did not give him enough time to make a decision.

Nice spin, but what he said was there was not enough time to allow environmental impact studies to be concluded. He is for the pipeline, built responsibly without threatening another disaster.

The environmental impact statements still are not in. The pipeline does not make us more oil independent as its not our oil. It only furnishes 2000 jobs, many of them temporary until its completed.

Just another example of republicans backing big oil.

I like that Obama wants to remove oil subsidies.

Temporary jobs- just like high-speed rail construction, yes?

Upstate get your facts right. There were at least 2 Rep governors that didn't want that pipe line running trough there farm lands and water sheds. Those governors are more worried about the people and the land and water, then big oil. The Rep's just want to jam it through. We need the jobs but at what cost is the question.

@ Upstate New York: Educate yourself, before speaking on adult topics. You make yourself look the fool by spouting nonsense. The actual reason that the pipeline was turned down, was because it's route takes it through the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska, which is a major source of water for Nebraskan's. Even Republican Governor Dave Heinemann has voiced opposition to the current plan, without further environmental impact studies. This isn't a partisan ploy, it's simply smart to make sure you're not infecting your ground water with hydrocarbon contaminates.

And considering this makes a paltry amount of jobs for America (Makes more jobs for Canada, actually), most of them temporary, this really has little impact on anything.

I believe the review of the pipeline was because of change in where it would be placed. Review involves environmental study, not just looking at some paperwork. This was done knowing that he would have to turn it down so that they cant point to this as something "bad" that he did.

If they REALLY wanted to move Canadian oil into the US, they would build the pipeline into North Dakota & then build new refineries there. That would bring the oil in and create thousands of jobs in the oil, construction and transportation businesses without contaminating any aquifers.

More of selling off AMERICA

RIGHT, LEFT and MIDDLE Please read the question below and give me the answers after some real thought.

1. If this is about getting oil to Texas and Louisiana to be refined and shipped to world markets NOT China. IS America less dependent from the world energy markets which are controlled by other nations and China buys from the world markets at market prices anyway?

2. Why does this pipe HAVE TO BE HEATED?

3. Who and what agency is responsible WHEN a spill happens in the future since this not AMERICAN oil and the pipe is owned by a multinational oil company? Google tar sands. Read this http://www.onearth.org/article/tar-sands-oil-plagues-a-michigan-community .

4. Check “eminent domain” and the property RIGHTS issues. This is like selling the Indiana toll road to foreign interest.

5. Where is all the “WAIST” going to go when it comes to Texas? Dump it in the gulf? Some estimates are as high as 92% solid waist from tar sands. Even at 50% that is a 1 for 1 barrel of waist to oil.

6. If this is so good for jobs Why isn't Canada building new refineries and just supply their own country with off market oil to keep the prices down for their own people buy reducing shipping cost of Tankers. (see their environmental laws in Canada)

7. Since there are already lines to Oklahoma why not add these new ones and build a large refinery so all that oil is sold to the United States so we no longer support the middle east and foreign countries? (oh ya to dirty and needs to go on world market from Texas ports)

8. The JOB creation issue. Per Keystone's revised estimates 2000 to 5000 temporary 6 month to 18 months jobs and 50 permanent. As opposed to multi-year infrastructure work. E.P.A. minimum wage clean up jobs like the Gulf WHEN a spill occurs. Which is better for AMERICA?

9. Who will be the contractor? Will it be Chinese steal and pipe? Are they obligated to use U.S. Labor. This is 1600 miles long do they plan on paying for expenses to get labor in site.

This is a giant scam on Americans for politics and large corporation’s in my opinion.

The number 730,000,000,000 apparently has at least three extra zeros, since the total oil consumption in the US in 2010 was about 7,000,000,000 barrels. I did have a chance to check the other numbers in your quote, but it is clearly inaccurate by several orders of magnitude.

I am OK with arguing facts and philosophies, but at least the facts should be correct.

President Obama made it quite clear that the Keystone XL application would not be approved before 2013. Whether for political reasons or technical reasons - the rejection of the the Keystone XL application before 2013 was very plainly stated.

The Congressional Republicans wanted to demonstrate their political power over the President. The Congressional Republicans wanted to make a political point. Their arguments had nothing to do with energy independence or creating jobs - they were well aware that Keystone XL would provide neither energy security or jobs.

Congressional Republicans played political poker and lost. Unfortunately, the chips they were playing belongs to TransCanada. TransCanada now must bear the cost of preparing another application. The Republicans, as usual, played political poker using someone else's money.

How ANY of the Republican Congress could possibly get reelected is beyond me. They have been the destruction of this country.

The Republicans caused this disaster, and wont allow it to be fixed. These people are not American.

Everything possible must be done to defeat these people.

Please get involved in your local districts and do everything you can to run them out.

We don't need a new President,..just a NEW congress!

Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You,...Ask What You Can Do For Your Country.

Kennedy said it,.......Obama Lives it,...... the Republicans hate it.

@ Dadoftim: Yes, I saw that website also, unfortunately, that's not an independent environmental study. Maybe that's why the Governor of Nebraska objected to the pipeline? I mean, he's privy to that exact same information, so obviously that doesn't satisfy him. Sorry, some Republicans and Democrats alike objected to the pipeline (even if the majority of Republican's didn't), wonder how many of them actually live in Nebraska and the Ogallala Aquifer area.

John- I'd venture to say that it's the "don't ask, don't tell" political structure: Don't ask what I'm doing (because I won't tell you- terrible freedom of information request record), don't ask what's in the legislation (because we need to pass it to find out what's in it), don't question me or my record (neither will ever be released), don't ask where the tax money is going (because we- government- certainly have a better way to spend your money), don't ask about the debt (because we need to spend our way out of our deficit and recession), .......

I'm not saying that it's only one party either, but I am saying that it was interesting that the President chose last night to ask for more power, quick votes, and more spending. Congress has a history (recent) of holding up bills and candidates without voting on them until their legitimacy expires in process. Do I think that voting on things should be faster- yes, but don't have it one way for President Obama and then the next person whom will be in office. Do I think the President needs more power- no. Do I think we need more taxation and spending- Not really. Fine, tax the rich more but you won't shore up the books with it so don't make it seem that taxing more is the solution to the deficit and overspending problem.

The system is pretty much broken.

Yeah, did you see that Santorum didn't stop a lady referring to Obama as a Muslim? The mud slinging is only getting started.

...and he did so with a smirk on his face knowing full well the woman was as looney as the one John McCain had to smack down. THIS is what you want for the office of the president? Not if my vote counts.

OBAMA IN 2012 THERE IS NO ONE ELSE.

OBAMA IN 2012 THERE IS NO ONE ELSE.

Reinforcing that point, because at the moment I really can't vote for someone else because there's nobody electable from the right.

No kidding!

We have Newt who can't keep it in his pants.

Mitt who kept a good portion of his wad in offshore accounts.

Santorum who doesn't believe in birth control.

Wake up2840....what other big words can you misuse? hahahahaha

Momgam - Sounds like Mitt is the smartest one.

I loved that part too. Corporations are sitting on 2 trillion dollars, so I doubt that taxing the wealthy would affect anything. I think Obama did set the stage for tax reform, and there is enough bipartisan support for that.

Yes the President did set the platform for moving America forward. Republicans have no cover any-more for the wrongs and suffering they have caused ordinary hard working Americans. Republicans should get their acts together and start passing the jobs, put teachers back to work and re-hire police and emergency staff legislations. Should Republicans choose not to listen to Americans, and pass these jobs legislations, Americans would respond come November by giving the Democrats 100% control of House and Senate.

Obama/Hiden 2012

Bob you are right on the money. giving more money to the rich has never created jobs. It didn't work when Ragen tried it and it has never worked. Small businesses need help, Credit for the most part. But make no mistake, big business are what keeps small business from becoming bigger.

Noone wants to take money from the rich they just want them to pay what the middle class has been paying for years and years. What could possibly be wrong with that? The problem with Repukes is even those who are not rich think they are rich. Don't take my money let those who work hard for a living keep paying so we can live a life of luxury on the backs of the workers in this country. Get rid of unions so Americans can't make a decent wage. This is the retoric of Repukes who could care less about the poor and middle class. All I hear from Repuke friends is all poor a lazy. Some of the poor are digging ditches to feed their families. The Repukes are only for themselves.

In the 1960's the top tax rate was 90% Ike was President.

From that we got the superhighways from coast to coast,.. that shot the economy to the moon.

There was NO shortage of millionairess.

Greed has destroyed this country.

I agree John, greed has destroyed this country... greed from union thugs.

Wake up, go back to sleep.

Interesting how the middle class tax cuts had to be paid for but the tax cuts/welfare for the rich don't have to be paid for.

Watching Eric Cantor fume was pretty fun as well.

I really enjoyed Eric Cantors face also and also the Tan Man. The two who are running, Gingrich who is so corrupt and arrogant and Romney who is just plain stupid. Can't even answer questions intellegently.

Mitch McConnell looked pretty stupid as well. Poor bigots...

Obama/Biden 2012, there is no one else...

I believe that his advisers were going for someone who looked like an everyday person in America not some madeup image that hollywood would introduce. I thought that having people who look like everyday people was the right way to go. I thought that Boehner was going to faint on a couple of occasions sitting back there looking very pained. This was a great speech and the president nailed it right onto McConnell's ignorant forehead.

"can't even answer questions intellegently" - its intelligently.

@ 6 President said that now that we're not in Iraq, use half of that money on infrastructure and the other half to pay down the debt,

What money from the wars? It's been done on BORROWED money. There's not going to be any influx of cash to spend on infrastructure and to pay down the debt. So , are we going to borrow money to pay on our debt??? Sleight of hand, not truthful by the President.

Ruken,

yeah it looked like someone crapped in his coffee several times throughout the SOTU.

All Daniels pitched was doom and gloom and no hope for recovery. That's all that the bagger party has to offer. It took a lot of gall for them to put Daniels up there to criticize the president when it was Daniels as Bush's economic chief who helped to destroy the economy. Now we're supposed to trust what he says?!

Daniel's speech was incredibly hard to watch. He is such a poor speaker, his talking points were out of date, he obviously did not know what the president was going to say, and he really did not look as though he believed what he was saying. And there is talk of his at the last minute running for president? Can you just see him in a debate with President Obama? What a joke that would be.

you three stooges are so brainwashed you wouldn't grasp any concept that wasn't taxed or printed on food stamps.

Wake up, go back to sleep.

Wake up is asleep, he's having a bad dream that's turning into a nightmare of two really bad choices between Gingrich or Romney!

Maybe but I'm not voting for the party that is for getting rid of child labor laws,unions,minimum wage,workers rights,legal rights to litigation for[Arbitration], voting rights, women s rights,FDA,FAA,CDC,Dept of labor,Dept of Education, Social Security,Medicare. Repubs want it to be 1920 again,and that ain't happening!

Actually, that mission was completed before the speech.....they just didn't make it public until early this morning. That is why he was congratulating Panetta as he entered the House chambers last night.

I think it was total class that he did not mention the mission in his speech.

Have fun!

You're going to have to go to the Federal Reserve and steal a bunch of zeros off a computer. Seriously that's where much of the theft took place.

They have Cable TV under that over pass? How do you share the remote?

Pissed what that you in Dallas trying to get your money back from Little Bush?

Mitch Daniels lost all his credibility when he began advocating supply side economics.

Actually Ben, Bush started the bailouts of the auto industry before Obama took office!

Bush started the bailout of WALLstreet!

@pissed don't forget to get the lobbyist and the captialists too

Pissed, get help before you wind up like Jarred. In prison and depressed.

Nice comment Bill in Austin. Its nice to know the brains of many are not turned by the hate of the few.TLC

Moderates take flak from the extremists on both sides, that's why Congress is so f*cked right now.

Very nice comment Bill in Austin!

Bill,

Is that why this current President has a 43% approval rating? I guess 57% of us have no common sense and blindly follow our "billionaire masters".

I love how people like Bill are still pointing fingers at each side and haven't figured out yet that no matter what side a politician in on, they are STILL A POLITICIAN. You may ask what I mean by that. Well, it means that they could care less about you a tax paying individual as long as they have the power. When are you people going to stop and think about things for a change?!?

Amen.

You talk about leading blindly off a cliff? That is what Obama is doing! We have been warned to stop our spending and come up with a plan and yet he wants to keep spending! How stupid is that!

Nice to know that the GOTP will go down with their ship. Please, no one throw them a life preserver.

I like President Obama's vision, his plan for our future, and if he gets a little help from the obstructionist House of Republicans, then we just might be better off.

Those that don't peruse the media are uninformed.

Those that watch Faux News are misinformed.

Very well said, T.Crowl.

Yeah, it would be much better with a crook as President. Our current group of alternatives is pathetic. Romney says "corporations are people" and now "banks are people too and they are not bad people". Newt Gingrich is a fat clown from the south that looks and acts like the "good ol' southern boy" he is. Getting rid of the EPA and letting the mega-corps pollute everything in their path builds money not jobs, get rid of consumer protection doesn't kill jobs, it allows companies to sell crap and cheat people while keeping the money and blaming the buyer. The GOP talk of smaller government is pure crap. They want bigger, stronger government in your personal life. To them smaller government is letting the poor starve and not wasting money on programs to help people. Notice, when they talk about a flat tax, the first thing they want to do is get rid of capital gains tax, so people like Romney, Trump and the rest will then pay no taxes......

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/01/316040/romney-solamere-ponzi/?mobile=nc

The comments made by the A people are unbelieveable. Don't you know when you are being pandered to??? It is the same failed rhetoric from 08 and you are falling for it again. Look at the man's record and all you see is failed leadership and the same line of bs from last time. I highly respect the office but have no faith in the office holder. As an independant I evaluate the candidates on their merit not their rhetoric so I do keep an open mind but in this case there is no case to be made for reelction.

@griffin. Don't you know when you are being brainwashed? I guess not The A people know they are not being brainwashed because they can read, write and think as an individual.

Do you mean to tell me we should go back to bush policies were hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost per month. You want to go back to those good times?

I hear you hate the President. OK! Then tell me what is the GOP plan that will actually create jobs?

Forget that stupid saying cut all government regulations - Look were that got us - A freakin recession you want to start another one because you believe your trusted GOP friends, that the current slow growing economy is bad for America and we should not help children and old people and return to the bush glory years? How stupid do you look? Pretty stupid I would say.

Maybe we should have elected McCain and Palin I'm sure this recession would have ended the second they took office.

What federal involvement in gun running? People arrested in the gun running are U.S. citizens, but there is no credible proof that the federal government is involved.

guess you missed the hearing, wade, where eric holder admitted his department started it.

There are common American victories - revived auto industry, rechargeable battery manufacturing, less new regulations than previous administration, more oil production, less foreign oil dependency and so forth that Boehner and his GOP lot should be applauding as achievements for this country.

I think all Americans got to see their true colors last night.

There is still no proof Obama is involved with gun running, Dirt, no proof what so ever. Yes Eric Holder started an investigation on the gun running. Any claim Obama is arming criminals in Mexico is a damnable lie.

Back on topic people. Or you can get your own Blog. Obama is just that good that you have to dig deep to lie about him. Not even a good try.

Go back to your employers and tell them you goofed up.

Good luck because its a No Working Congress and Pres Obama told them when he was first inaugurated and put into office and the Congress is determined to not get anything done......I say we need fresh new faces and ideas at Washington because this Congress is not going to help the President.....Sooooorrrryyy!!!!!