COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address proved himself to be a Republican rhetoric rip-off artist. Obama stole key components of Jon Huntsman's stump speech and recycled one of Rick Perry's key phrases. As if stealing from drop-out candidates wasn't enough, he borrowed from Newt Gingrich, too.
In 2008, when Obama praised Ronald Reagan and the Republicans for having better ideas than Democrats, he was attacked by rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, according to the Associated Press. Obama's borrowing may be emblematic that Obama, elected as a center-left progressive who tacked right after his inauguration, has morphed into a center-right pragmatist who is relatively indistinguishable from his Republican opponents.
Obama talked about "an economy built on American manufacturing," evoking what the Boston Globe called the "central tenet of (Huntsman's) economic platform." He also borrowed the climax of Huntsman's stump speech, his identification of a "Trust Deficit" in America.
The Bangor Daily News reported Huntsman took a hard-line against big banks. He proposed taxing them to raise revenue, according to Time. Channeling his inner-Huntsman, the candidate The Australian claimed Obama most feared, the president vowed to levy a fee on banks as it "will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust."
Later, Obama said, "I've talked tonight about the deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. But the divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad -- and it seems to get worse every year."
Obama also adopted Huntsman's "nation building here at home" theme. Talking about the military and increasing the V.A.'s budget, Obama said, "it means enlisting our veterans in the work of rebuilding our nation."
He purloined Rick Perry's "all-of-the-above energy policy" phrase Perry used in official speeches, according to his official site, and during his presidential campaign. According to Time, Obama also stole the title of Newt Gingrich's book, "Winning the Future" when he told Congress, "Don't let other countries win the race for the future." The Atlantic reports Obama used the phrase 11 times.
Hearing Obama steal Huntsman's "Trust Deficit" theme was jarring. Obama may just be a hustler on the make, a political magpie ready to steal whatever is shiny. But it may be symptomatic of a deeper existential problem: Barack Obama doesn't know who he is.
uhs uhs google street view google street view gluten free diet oprah winfrey iaa
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.