It was a great SOTU speech

I know the speech didn’t get great reviews from the major newspapers or from those who oppose the president. It didn’t  even have a sound bite that will be remembered for years to come.  As a democrat, the speech made me glad I watched it because it reminded me of why I voted for President Obama.

  I liked the tone the president used. It wasn't conciliatory, and he didn't attack the opposition.  The president finally realizes that "if he's for it, then they will be against it." He stuck a fork in the Obamacare battles, saying that the opposition party will never like the law so let's move on.  He emphasized that by saying that they have tried to repeal it for over 40 times, he gets it, don't waste any more time.

Last year during the State of the Union address, the president mentioned 87 ideas that he would like to see put into action.  Only two of those ideas saw the light of day.  Last night,  the president didn't produce a laundry list knowing that it would never pass Congress.  He talked about small things that he could do around climate change and setting the example of the need to  increase the minimum wage by  for signing an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal contract employees.

I thought the president would be angry or subdued because of his low approval numbers, but he came out upbeat and rather positive.  Then again, he was talking to a Congress with a 13% approval.
As I remember, the president put his line in the sand a couple of times, once to  say that the debate is over, climate change is real.  He also reiterated that he would veto any legislation that throws a wrench into the current Iran negotiations to get them to abandon their nuclear weapon program.  I'm thinking that his climate-change  remark  will be an influencing factor as to whether he approves the rest of the Keystone pipeline project.

The pundits have been trying to handicap President Obama next three years, saying that he will not get any major legislation passed.  That may be so, but it won't be because of lack of trying as he said last night, there's no quit in America.  The president pointed to army ranger Cory Ransburg as an example.  The applause and appreciation for Cory Ransburg brought the partisans together for a standing ovation to a deserving hero.

Benghazi This and Benghazi That

I’m glad the Senate Intelligence Committee Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that the attack in which four Americans were killed in Benghazi, Libya could have been prevented. They blamed both the diplomats and the CIA for their lack of security and communications leading up to the night of the fatal attack in which four Americans were killed.

The Senators didn’t reveal much that didn’t already know since there has been several investigative hearings before their report which was concluded yesterday.

I did learn that the CIA beefed up their security at the Benghazi facility about a mile up the road, known as the Annex before the attack. The State Department failed to follow suit. The make shift Mission facility where Ambassador Stevens and the other three Americans were housed didn’t have anything near the equipment and security the CIA annex had.

The most important find to me was the admittance that the United States Africa Command, the military headquarters responsible for Libya, did not know about a thing about the CIA annex. There is where the lack of communication came in.

The report also found that the Pentagon was not prepared to deal with the crisis on September 12^, 2012. The cover media reported that U.S. military assets were not positioned to respond in time to save the four Americans. This kind of throws away the importance of the hearsay “stand down orders” that was supposedly given.

I have never seen the right- wing so angry since the Whitewater, Filegate, death of Vince Foster, and Monica Lewinsky inquiries all bundled into one. I’d be willing to bet that 99.9% of Republicans are seething over Benghazi, even though throughout the years, we’ve had several embassies attacked where Americans were killed. The level of hatred is toward President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

I have yet to hear the right complain of the actions of then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta or the head of CIA at the time David Patraeus.

For the life of me I don’t know why the Benghazi brings out such hatred toward the president and a former secretary of state. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to give my opinion. I think this all started with the anger that builds up prior to a presidential election. The GOP didn’t have a scandal to pin on President Obama and his foreign policy credentials at the time were impeccable because he had gotten us out of an unpopular war in Iraq and was killing al Qaeda leaders left and right.

Along came the Sunday talk shows where Susan Rice told the nation that Benghazi was attacked by people who were upset over a video mocking Mohammed. The right had their smoking gun because to them, the president just sent out his surrogate to dispel any al Qaeda involvement. They misinterpreted Obama's words when he said that al-Qaeda had been dissipated. The president was clearly talking about al Qaeda who attacked us on 9/11 who were based in Pakistan.

The Republicans are obviously upset over losing two straight elections to President Obama, and they’re doing their damnedest to prove how dumb we were for voting for him. I remember Mitt Romney saying on the night of the attack” “The Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," but then had to retract. It then came the night of the foreign policy debate when Mitt Romney said he would do everything Obama was already doing.

The GOP will continue to look for that smoking gun as long as Hillary is still in contention for a presidential run. They can’t say that she could’ve done anything on the night of the Benghazi and because the report clearly exonerates her. They can say she didn’t provide enough security, and they would be right but she has already admitted that and sources know that funding and channels of communication are part of the mix.

There’s still the constant need for the Republicans to prove that President Obama is totally incompetent in domestic and foreign affairs. They will try to prove that Obama was an illegitimate seizure of power. Right now, they long for the days of President Clinton but that will change as soon as Hillary announces her candidacy for president.