Is Obama Insane?

Is President Obama insane? I’m serious. You remember Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well, Obama has reached out to Republicans over and over again, trying for bipartisanship, and the more he attempts it, the more he is scorned. So, by Einstein’s definition we have no choice but to believe he is insane. Even tonight, in his State of the Union address, he was still trying to raise even a glimmer of hope for bipartisanship, and Republicans, as usual sat on their hands and did not respond (with all due respect to Rachel Maddow’s feeble attempt to read their body language that, to her, seemed to indicate a tiny bit of positive response).

But it was a fine speech, every bit as good as his usual performance. And as you might expect he said all the right things, tried to inspire bipartisanship, told us all not to lose hope, he would never give up, and so on. The Democrats loved it, the Republicans hated it, but, then, what else would you have expected? It’s hard to argue against creating jobs, passing health care reform, defending us from terrorists, helping small businesses, reducing taxes on the middle class, doing away with don’t ask, don’t tell, and equal wages for equal work, and etc., etc. As it was a speech primarily about jobs and unemployment, he did not even mention health care until later in the speech. And of course he said nothing about the inadequacies of the current health care bill he is urging Congress to pass, he obviously wants anything about health care to pass no matter how inadequate it may be. He was also remarkably silent on the question of our current “wars,” although he did mention them more or less in passing. He said our troops would soon be home from Iraq, said virtually nothing about Afghanistan, did not remark at all about the obscene costs of these misadventures, and announced that his proposed freeze on spending would not apply to the military (where, of course, he could easily find plenty of billions to help us out of the mess we are in – military and the pentagon are somehow sacred institutions that are entitled to endless funds no matter how useless they may actually be). More importantly, to me at least, he said nothing at all about Israel, the single most important barrier to peace in the Middle East and an international criminal enterprise (I think he was afraid the Israel lobby might actually materialize right there and bite him).

He resisted the temptation (if he even felt one) to bash the Bush/Cheney administration, although he did point out that he had inherited from them an extremely bad, if not impossible, situation. He obviously has no intention whatsoever of trying to hold them accountable for their war crimes. And he recited the usual accusation about Iran’s attempt to build a nuclear bomb (for which there is absolutely no evidence). There were many positive things mentioned, not the least of which was substantial increases in educational funds, long overdue, more money for scientific research, more money to help small businesses hire more people, tax breaks for the middle class, and so on. But there were some red flags for me: his apparent support for nuclear energy (an absolute abomination), his continued support for the military budget (bloated beyond any conceivable reality), his support for clean coal (which does not exist) and biofuels (fraught with many serious problems), and his assumption that by 2011 we would be in better fiscal shape (which I seriously doubt).

It was a fine and stirring effort, full of many of the usual clichés about what a marvelous country we are, how generous, how creative and innovative, how we only want to help people around the world, how Iraq has been freed to now manage itself, how noble, in general, we are, and how we only seek peace (all the usual falsehoods that a President has to say, thus invariably not facing reality as it truly is). I doubt he could have done a better job, but I’d bet a lot he will not get any help from our treasonous Republicans who have vowed to make him (and the country) fail. He said that now that Republicans have 41 votes in the Senate they should be obliged to participate and stop blocking everything. Republicans spit on participation and have vowed repeatedly to be the party of no. Forty one votes instead of 40 are not going to change them. Democrats should go to reconciliation, pass the best parts of the current bill, continue to promote better health care, and expose Republican sabotage at every opportunity, dwell on it, repeat it constantly, and follow my advice, roviate Republicans as they have roviated you. No more coddling, pleading, compromising, bribing, cajoling, or trying to please these unpatriotic slimebags whose only interests are greed and their lust for power, and who are willing to sacrifice their country to achieve them.

Obama barely got off the stage before McCain announced he was opposed to trying to do away with don’t ask, don’t tell. Sigh.