Any speech from President Obama is guaranteed to include numerous references to himself, blaming George Bush, and creating straw men. Wednesday night's State of the Union was no different.

By my count from watching the speech, here is a numbers breakdown of Obama's first State of the Union: Obama refers to himself 114 times

Taxes: On the eve of President Obama's first State of the Union address, two Democratic congressmen are advising him to extend the Bush tax cuts instead of letting them expire. Now that's a stimulus.

We hear that the administration is considering taking a more populist tack as it sails the choppy political waters of 2010. Some of President Obama's plans reportedly include several tax tidbits for the "middle class," including a doubling of the child care tax credit for families below $85,000 in income, and $1.6 billion for child care and a cap on student loan payments.

Such transparent populism aside, if the recent bank-bashing is any sign, the ship of state is still being steered into the iceberg ahead.

This time, we sincerely hope the State of the Union will be distinguished by a cessation of Bush-bashing. We're glad to see two Democratic congressmen have said enough of this, and rather than bash Bush, urge the administration to copy him.

Reps. Bobby Bright, D-Ala., and Mike McMahon, D-N.Y., sent a "Dear Colleague" letter on Thursday asking their fellow congressmen to support extending the Bush tax cuts, passed in 2001 and 2003, at least for two years.

"Allowing these tax rates to expire during this recession runs the risk of curtailing economic expansion just when it begins to pick up and could lead to a 'double-dip' recession," says the letter.

We agree and suggest that keeping them might put jobs back into this jobless recovery. Businesses need certainty for long-term planning and risk-taking, not one-year, one-time tax credit gimmicks.

President Obama did propose during the 2008 campaign and in last year's budget plan extending the Bush tax cuts affecting the poor and middle class.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegard...rld-leadership/

http://www.aipnews.com/talk/forums/thread-...d=11886&posts=1

http://okwereright.blogtownhall.com/

http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/01/23/a-q...thout-sunshine/

http://www.760kfmb.com/Global/story.asp?S=11876021














This post has been edited by sulifeisgreat: Jan 28 2010, 04:25 PM