President Obama formally accepted the Democratic nomination for President in Charlotte Thursday night where he addressed his party’s convention. The speech stayed true to his past appeals for fairness and shared responsibility, where he again called for tax increases on the wealthy and lambasted those on the Right for not making everyone pay their “fair share.” It had an all-too-familiar feel to it for a speech that was big on rhetoric and little on ideas.
Ironically, he opened the speech by referencing the disconnect voters feel toward partisan politics. “I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly. Trivial things become big distractions,” he said. “The truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me—so am I.”
Shortly after pointing out how the electorate is growing weary over the heated political climate in Washington, Obama blasted Republicans, lambasting them over their convention last week.
“Now, our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right.” He went on to attack Republican efforts to cut taxes during surpluses, claiming that they had the same plan for budget deficits as well.
The most disingenuous statement came in the next paragraph where the President proclaimed with confidence, “I’ve cut taxes for those who need it – middle-class families and small businesses.”
As the Heritage Foundation has astutely pointed out, the only significant piece of legislation passed under Obama’s first term, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, raised taxes on three million middle-class Americans according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. And as the Supreme Court deemed it, Obamacare is indeed a tax.
If America elected him “to tell the truth” as he put it in Thursday night’s speech, the least he can do is be honest with the American people about his propensity to raise taxes on all citizens, and not just the wealthy ones.
Moving quickly through his laundry list of left-wing agenda items, from climate change to higher fuel efficiency standards to greedy oil companies, Obama made some grandiose promises for the manufacturing and education sectors as well.
“Now you have a choice: we can give more tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, or… we can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years.” He went on to highlight the pressing need for more teachers (unionized ones, no doubt) in the classrooms, imploring supporters to help him “recruit 100,000 math and science teachers in the next ten years, and improve early childhood education.”
After referencing several carefully selected stories to speak to the hearts of supporters about a medical student in Colorado, a young (illegal) immigrant who wasn’t deported, and a young homeless woman who won a science fair competition, the President closed with another carefully selected reference to God.
“They remind me, in the words of Scripture, that ours is a ‘future filled with hope… We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.”
President Obama’s speech Thursday night was a familiar tale to anyone listening since his election in 2008. Big on rhetoric, short on ideas, and a retread of his failed policies over the past four years, Obama’s speech showcased the shortcomings and pitfalls of this administration in handling foreign policy, healthcare, and, most importantly, the economy that is crippling middle-class Americans through more debt, stagnant wages, and a high unemployment rate.
