Don Roach: I Didn’t Watch the Inauguration

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Don Roach, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

Did you?

Here’s what’s worse, I don’t feel bad about it. Yes, there’s a part of me that feels that I should have taken some time to stop my busy day and watch one of our country’s most sacred traditions, but I had spreadsheets to fix and work meetings to attend. I didn’t have time to listen to a man who promised us hope and change in 2008 but delivered us more of the same between now and then.

No, I got fooled once, I wasn’t fooled twice. You see, President Obama has a genuine gift – a way of saying something that makes most people believe what he’s saying. Bill Clinton had a similar gift, the difference is that Clinton actually backed up most of his statements (keyword: most). Obama, on the other hand, has been like a snake oil salesman promising bipartisanship in 2008 and delivering nothing but the opposite. He portrayed himself as a friend to Latinos and yet has deported more people than any other president before him and he told that his stimulus package would save the economy. Yeah, how’s that working out for us, Rhode Island?

Since Obama is so good at making promises he doesn’t keep, I decided to take a few excerpts from his speech and translate them for us so that we have a full understanding of what he means which in many cases contradicts what he says.

Obama: “The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed. For more than two hundred years, we have.”

Translation: As I have often done, I will co-opt our patriotic history to set the stage to discuss how far I am from the ideals of our 18th century patriots. I only want a government of, by, and for the people if those people will support my socialist policies. People with differing ideologies seek mob rule and only want privileges for the few.

Obama: “Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers. Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play. Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune.”

Translation: Speaking of socialism, if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Someone else made that happen. And that someone is the government my friends. Together, I and my big government cronies are going to ensure that a free market will only exist over your tax riddled paychecks and unsightly food and utility prices. Together, my cronies and I will ensure that for every dollar you earn we will take at least forty percent and distribute it wherever we see fit. We’ll give it to the poor, but you middle class workers who are struggling – you won’t see a dime.

Obama: “This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.”

Translation: This generation of Americans has lost more jobs than their parents, grandparents, and great grand parents. I got Osama but the Middle East is far from stable. A couple of weeks ago, Congress and I agreed to take more from your paycheck and we’re calling that economic recovery, folks. The ways in which we’re taking more of your hard earned money are limitless; for your government possesses the youthful exuberance and drive to make it happen. We will seize your paycheck … I mean, that’s not the catchphrase … I mean … we are made for this moment. We, and by “we”, I mean my government cronies, will not stop until every corner and crevice of your life is intruded upon by the government.

Glad I didn’t watch

Wow, haven’t we heard all of this before? If you took the time to watch the President’s address, and I hope you found something else better to do, his words ring hollow. Unemployment was bad when he took office, it’s not much better today. Gas prices were ok, they’re horrible now. Food prices were on the rise, but now they’re skyrocketing.

In nearly every way, America is worse today than we were four years ago. Empty promises and forgetting the middle class have been the hallmark of Obama’s presidency. I am not looking forward to four more years of that and I ask you to excuse me if I couldn’t stomach listening to another sales pitch.

Like the rest of you, I’m trying to figure out how to survive the next four years with someone who has essentially declared war on the middle class.

Ok, back to my spreadsheets.

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