Obama missed his chance

After a year with Barack Obama as President, predicting what he is going to say is pretty easy. There are going to be clichéd calls to populism mixed with barbs at the Bush Administration. Generic terms are used that are hard for anyone to disagree with. Leftists will get a bone thrown to them. Defense and terrorism will be far down on the list of items discussed and there is always the sense of self importance. It is understandable while some members of Congress were caught nodding off by the cameras.

Wednesday night’s State of the Union was par for the course. Obama talked about civility while barbing the Republicans. He eloquently said nothing of importance. The President’s ego was on full display, especially when he chastised the Supreme Court for a decision he disagreed with. ( Frankly, that is something South American Presidents in funny hats do in such a formal setting.) It took an hour for President Obama to get around to the war on terror and national security.

The only thing new was the President’s sense of self pity. He talked about what he faced when he became President. The self pity was even more evident when after calling for civility, he threw barbs at the Republicans. Beneath the charisma, there seemed to be a real sense of bitterness in the President’s barbs. Frankly it has to be hard for Republicans to sit down and work with him after he blames them for all his woes.

It is that apparent self pity that was the most disappointing aspect of the State of the Union. President Obama has a tough job, but he asked for the job. He is the President of the United States. The State of the Union address is national state event and is not the forum for such self pity and political barbs. The address seemed at times to be more the “State of Obama” than the State of the Union, and there lies why the President’s approval numbers have plummeted. A soldier or employee always gripes up at the chain command or management. Leaders never gripe down. When they do, they lose respect. They lose control of the agenda.

Over the past few weeks, President Obama went from being the man who could to the man giving the reasons for why he couldn’t. Obama had a chance Wednesday night to change that. He missed that chance.