Dear America,

Finally.
Transparency we can all believe in.

Only taken two years...
But oh the sweet smell of success...
Glory days are here again.

"WE DO BIG THINGS...that's how we win the future."

So the focus group with Frank Luntz, interviewed after the address and the GOP redress, came with a rounding tone of blah, blah, blahblahblah.  Real People can see right through the guy now -- and you know what they say, seeing is believing; the people, the average Joe, have a hard time believing him for a minute (let alone 62).

Don't get me wrong -- we want to; we really want to trust him and love him and elevate the b'jesus out of him; he is a VERY likable guy, a man's man, a perfect president in every way...

except...
if only...
if only we haven't been witness all this time...
to his antics and tactics of the last two years... and counting.

There was something about the way he moved us -- that got to a point last night -- maybe after the first twenty minutes -- when I was like, why is this sounding so general, so mediocre, so middle of the road -- it was milque-toasty...swarmy... hum drum...just what we expected really...as he went on and on and on, starting to leave a film over the eyes...

oh sure, he plucked people out of the audience, highlighting their company, someone's personal drive, fine tuning the  natural ambition and penchant to DO good things, to do the things America does so well, shooby dooby dooo.. to get involved, to share our ideas, our green energy innovations, to make a difference in this world... and better still, to make a difference in the life of a child... be a teacher..true inspiration was dripping all over the place, indeed.
 
"the future is ours to win"; "to win the future we will have to take on challenges that have been decades in the making"; "to meet the demands of a new age" (seriously? you spin a commercial on us?); "we wanna win the future"; "let's fix what needs fixing...move forward"; "we can't win the future with a government of the past"; "we do big things...that's how we win our future."

Wrapping things up with a big finish (and it was, and the best part of the night actually came immediately after his shout out to our men and women in uniform, which got the longest standing O of the evening and began what became the beginning of the end and the last, few, unbearable minutes of winning the future and the finality of his address, finally):

"The State of the Union is Strong," he said.

country strong...
sing me a song...
don't sing me a sad song,
but a new song...
what's taking so long...
what could go wrong?

I would be remiss if I did not point out awkward moments --

Telling us things -- as if we didn't already know for ourselves --  that basically, yes, the world has changed; "...they're right, the rules have changed..." going on and on about the 101 ways America has fallen behind in Science, Education and Math.  But just before we let any room for doubt creep in, he pops us with this: "America still has the largest, most prosperous, economy in the world!"

the future is ours to win.

His pillars of strength very neatly get broken down into roughly three areas -- Innovation,  Education and Nation Building (infrastructure)

And right off the bat he compares himself -- and maybe all the rest of us -- to being in the middle of an historical snippet in time, saying "this IS our generation's Sputnik moment."  that is funny.  does this work the same way as Ford -- audaciously projecting five years out -- that they have a car that holds it's value better than Toyota?  ...if we say it enough times...it really will come true..it really will come true.  and don't even get me started on what happens when we click our heels too.

But really, our "sputnik moment" -- poor choice of example if you ask me, but who is. oh well. who cares.  But really, you are going to bring up NASA upon your own choosing after scorching their jets and budgets to minimalism in space?  that's on you, Mr. O.

the future is ours to win.

Ah the eye of the beholder is a beautiful thing, movingon.org ---  you didn't delay getting right into your proposals featured on your brand spankin' new budget, the one that is about to be handed over to our new 112th Congress;  of course, not to take away from the government not even working off a budget right now, only a temporary continuance resolution to patch things up, keep things going, and if nothing else, put a band-aid over a deep, open, self-inflicted wound that is turning every shade of green at this very moment.  details. schmeetails.

So, you didn't mince words one bit -- to win the future, we (i.e. government) need to invest in the new way of clean energy, and apparently clean energy only, as you begin to make frenemies left and right saying:

"I don't know if you noticed, he he he, [big bad] oil companies are doing pretty darn well on their own...he he he...that's yesterday's energy."  so bold of you.

I don't know if you noticed, Mr. O, but the world revolves around oil, and it's by-products, day in and day out; if the bottom of the earth could talk, it would tell you, America cannot "innovate" and "grow" equally with the rest of the world without the stuff, the good stuff, the stuff formerly known as "black gold";  ah but alas, you, after giving it a thorough presidential shellacking now, the good stuff, the stuff that has made America pretty darn great has been quickly leveled to fool's gold via the mindset of an absent-minded professor.

Never also you mind, that even oil companies are evolving, changing the way they do business, leading the way into brand new technologies, and making their way into the small villages of the world, building infrastructure and giving a whole lot back, all along their merry little greedy way...  way to go, big guy, way to go.

the future is ours to win.

The funny thing about business, is that people can see a phony coming from a mile away.  The one who talks the walk has got nothing on the one who walks the talk;  the peddlers of mystical potions and fly-by-night miracle makers are a dime a dozen -- and more important, people can see right through them.

It simply doesn't work to say you are all for innovation, less regulation, more private investment, more boom, competition and drive, if all along the way you stomp on it. Truth is, allowing the free market to dictate the way, instead of a dictate telling the market how and for how much, is a chasm so far and wide, it would take a new Sputnik moment to get there (and that is simply not in the works at this time, we simply do not have the funds allocated. check back with us next year)

oh, so you need to be reminded of few startling examples of late?

in the last year, you stopped all oil drilling in any body of water and proceeded with an attack on coal (which is why your pal from West Virginia moved from the Governor's mansion to the Capital Building)...

you were poised to simply let the Bush Tax Cuts subside -- on the heels of a recession no less...

you have made it so difficult for R&D, have added so much in regulation, made it so hard to get investment capital to take the risk, drug companies have just said 'we're out' -- oh, and looky here, leaving a big fat opening for the Fed to jump in and ultimately be in charge, since just yesterday, of our narcotics and each and every side affect that comes with.  joy to the world and hand me the pink pill.

And all of a sudden you are speaking so highly of competitiveness?  really?  After beating up the rules of the road for a truly free market to play, you really think you can pull that off? -- trying to sound like a capitalist?

Take GE (no really, take it), what used to be the quintessential American maker of bringing all good things to life, has been rumored (another choice phrase of yours from the night) to have made a deal with China, offering up company secrets and special formulas and warming up to a long and fruitful arrangement to help them hit us harder where it hurts by 2020.

the future is ours to win.  (or lose)

You said 'we' (i.e. the government) will be "picking projects that are best for the economy, not politicians...over the years, we've rigged a system to benefit certain industry...makes no sense, that has to change."  and if that isn't a contradiction if there ever was one.  Yes to green jobs, No to oil, gas and coal.  Special favor to GE, all the rest of you are in it to win it on your own. 

the future is ours to win. (only if the government gets out of the way and stops trying to control, manipulate, beg, steal or borrow our future.  yes, then, and only then, we very well stand a chance.)

like a news flash: "we must confront the fact that government spends more than it takes in."

tell us something we don't know.

like a light bulb went off:   "[you all] live within your means...government must do the same."

talk to me.

You made candid shout-outs to specific, yet oh so general, groups,  namely:

to the children of illegals in school who only wish to grow up to be mathletes and scientists, calculating the next speed rail dimensions and discovering the cure for everything as we speak  (doesn't count the overwhelming numbers in my neck of the woods, who skip class, don't do their homework, and just hang around the barrio doing nothing with their free, award winning education);

to the teachers -- in a 'nation builders of the world unite' kind of manner, as it's not just a job, but a duty -- and to all you kids watching out there, and I know you are, it was assigned homework doncha know -- "become a teacher" (and please don't misconstrue, I love any good teacher as the next mom);

to the top 2% -- to all the millionaires and billionaires out there -- to the loophole finders and tax rate abusers -- we'll be coming for you down the road, just give us a little time, let's just leave it at that;

to the Muslim Americans...to tell you the truth, I am not quite sure how, or why, he made the dramatic gesture to 'insert here'...but score one for Mr.O, it sounded good, right.

to the Gay and Lesbian coalition of the U.S. Military...reminding us of the new age in boot camp coming on the repeal of DADT; but  honestly, he went on and did something unexpected, and surely I must give kudos when kudos are due -- he made it perfectly clear to college campuses far and wide to bring back the ROTC!  yes! you can hang a medal of honor on that special request.

Another loose end before we come to the end, not sure why you mentioned the trip scheduled for March -- evidently, you have made future plans to meet the demands of dictators and corrupt politicians in Brazil, Venezuela and El Salvador; not sure you noticed, Mr.O, standing O, you have much to do about nothing and everything before that day arrives --  you may not have a budget approved, the Debt Ceiling may not have been raised, recklessly and with free market abandon, while the approval to build the high speed rail, with all it's parts made in China, may not have been sufficiently inked yet  -- but who am I to question your timing, belittle your ability to get things done, or smack down your American innovative spirit.

and hey, the future is ours to win. right? (or frantically strew about)

Happy Wednesday.
If you haven't noticed, G awoke with a day-after headache.

Our future --  rebuilding America -- according to Mr. O, seems to be based on the same old thing(s): new investment (spending), borrowing (inflation), and banking on China to be there when we fall, I mean, fail.  Oh same thing.

I never heard him give a real sense of urgency to change our wicked ways.

I never heard anything more then making a few tweaks here, a few digs there.

I never heard him really grab a hold of our self-reliant roots and tug at them with all our soul, with all our might; I didn't hear him tell us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and get on with it already; I didn't hear him say, you can't expect government to bail anybody out anymore --  in a 'ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country', as we are country strong, kind of moment.  I didn't hear this kind of revelation and affirmation of how the real America gets out of a tough spot.

It was 62 minutes of a glazed over the eye denial of the gargantuan hot mess we're in, ah yes, with a few standing O's in between.  and it was very well done.  as expected.

thank you, thank you very much.
God Bless you and
God bless the United States of America.

the state of the union is strong.

the future is ours to win.

we do big things.

Big.

Make it a Good Day, G

p.s. don't know if you noticed, the airplane metaphor moment fell flat, bombed actually; of course, your very own Austan Goolsbee gave us a heads up, but really, not something I would readily return to in the future is ours to win near future.