The State of the Union - Should we have expected this?

Once upon a time there was a scorpion and he sat on the bank of the river pacing back and forth thinking about how to get across. Along comes a frog and scorpions says, “Hi frog, can you please help me? I’m trying to get across the river and I can’t swim”. The frog thinks for a minute, keeping his distance the whole time, and responds. “I’m not sure how you expect me to help?”. The scorpion replies, “Let me ride on your back and we can both swim over together. I promise I won’t sting you. I promise.” The frog thinks for a second and says, “I don’t think I can trust you. If you sting me I’ll die and I’m really afraid of getting stung.” The scorpion reassures the frog, “Trust me.” He says, “I won’t sting you because then we’ll both drown and what good would that do me.” Having considered this a reasonable argument the frog moves closer and the scorpion climbs onto his back. They frog then jumps into the water and starts swimming towards the other bank. Halfway across the scorpion stings the frog on the back. The frog exclaims, “Why did you do that, now we’ll both drown?!!!” The scorpion replies, “You knew I was a scorpion when I climbed onto your back, sorry.”

Yesterday in the State of the Union address President Obama made an attempt to change directions. He now seems to be moving towards job growth as the priority. While so many American’s are struggling to keep their heads above water, he continues to believe that he, along with the Congress, can somehow “create or save jobs”. It should be clearly understandable to the president by now that government, especially expanding and further reaching government, neither saves nor creates jobs. Businesses, both small and large, which President Obama seems to show so much distain for, are where jobs are created. They are not created in the halls of the white house or on the steps of congress. They are created in the factories, offices and storefronts of the people. They are saved by the faith of business owners and investors in the future of the country as well as their own personal motives for profit personal growth. When business owners and investors feel the future is unstable, they recoil from risk and opportunities for growth are missed. Less goods are shipped and less people are needed to build, transport and distribute goods and additional jobs are lost. Expansive government and pending regulations that make the future fraught with uncertainty undermine the recovery of the economy. President Obama seems to feel otherwise however. He still believes that he and the federal government can save the economy by borrowing and spending at levels that cannot be sustained. He remains the same narcissist that believed that what he felt the people need is independent of and more important than what they want. The recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts have proven otherwise. President Obama has taken the country in a direction the people do not want. His presidency appears to be the wakeup call that many Americans have needed to recognize that while the health care system may not be broken, our bloated and overreaching federal government is. The Constitution has remained in the shadows long enough and the recent decision by the Supreme Court in favor of free speech is an indication that the document has not outdated or dying, but is breathing in new life. The distain for the decision by the Supreme Court by President Obama is another indication that he supports not the people, but his own personal agenda. I believe he has forgotten that he is not our parent and we his children in guardianship, but rather he is our servant and our representative. Despite his appeals for change and redirection, what we can expect from our president is more of the same. We should have considered who he was when we elected him rather than after.