President Obama wants to turn the page.

He wants to turn America’s page away from the realities that we face, and his opening remarks of his address to our nation clearly highlight his stance:

Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before; more of our people are insured than ever before; we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we’ve been in almost 30 years.
Tonight, for the first time since 9/11, our combat mission in Afghanistan is over. Six years ago, nearly 180,000 American troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, fewer than 15,000 remain. And we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 Generation who has served to keep us safe. We are humbled and grateful for your service.
America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this:
The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.

We are free from the grip of foreign oil? Tell that to the nearly 30,000 oil workers that companies such as Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, and Halliberton are laying off due to the major drop in crude oil prices driven by OPEC playing their games.  Our troops? We may have ONLY 15,000 standing their ground in Afghanistan, but the President has sent troops BACK to Iraq and have just sent over 400 troops to Syria.

He then goes on to provide us his “checklist” and will send Congress a budget of practical ideas. Excuse me…. I had to pause for a minute, I was laughing so hard at the idea of the President actually presenting a budget. A practical one at that!! BWAHAHAHA!

Ok – back to the speech. Lets tackle a few of the domestic high points first.  We may save $750 at the pump, but I know for sure those low prices won’t last very long. Experts are already warning us that those prices will go up. And if the President actually follows through on one of his threats to veto, and vetoes Keystone, we’ll see prices go up like crazy.

“More Americans finish college than ever before.” That’s GREAT! But can they find jobs after graduation? Yeah, that part is a wee bit more difficult. Yet again, the President ignores reality. But meanwhile he goes on to say something kind of truthful!

At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would crush jobs and explode deficits.

So the verdict is clear. Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work, as long as politics don’t get in the way. We can’t slow down businesses or put our economy at risk with government shutdowns or fiscal showdowns. We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got a system to fix. And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, it will earn my veto.

Oh goody!! He doesn’t want politics to get in the way. And that veto pen? LOVES that veto pen!

@markknoller My goodness…he's a busy little bee isn't he?

— Nina Bookout (@NDBook96) January 20, 2015

Next we need to make sure that our tax dollars pay for affordable childcare. Mr. President, don’t tell us that child-care isn’t available or affordable. There are choices EVERYWHERE. People just need to get off their butts and look for it. Next, he’d like all companies to pay sick and maternity leave above and beyond what many already do. What will be the cost to those businesses and their ability to keep those employees on the books? I’m sure the President and his minions don’t have an answer to that question.

Free college! That sounds great doesn’t it??!! However, no matter what the President says, free college just like high school WON’T be free. He’s blatantly ignoring all the taxes we pay to the public schools. In some cases, such as Colorado, tax money for schools takes up nearly 50% of the state budget. Sure doesn’t sound FREE to me.

He’s going to help us fix our trade issues and promote trade and export to other countries. At what cost? Meanwhile he wants to protect and oversee innovation for medical research, the internet, resolve the issues of climate change, and strengthen our privacy.  How will we do that? Taxes of course!

As Americans, we don’t mind paying our fair share of taxes, as long as everybody else does, too.

REALLY?! There are a LOT of taxes I don’t like to pay. In fact the list is endless. And Mr. President, I don’t like the idea of YOU deciding what we are supposed to pay, and reworking the tax code to fit your vision is NOT the answer.  By the way, Mr. President, hasn’t anyone ever told you that we don’t need a Voting Rights Act?  Our Constitution grants EVERY LEGAL American the right to vote.

Lets shift to foreign policy:

My first duty as Commander-in-Chief is to defend the United States of America. In doing so, the question is not whether America leads in the world, but how. When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads; when the first response to a challenge is to send in our military — then we risk getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts, and neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer, more prosperous world. That’s what our enemies want us to do.
I believe in a smarter kind of American leadership. We lead best when we combine military power with strong diplomacy; when we leverage our power with coalition building; when we don’t let our fears blind us to the opportunities that this new century presents. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now — and around the globe, it is making a difference.

Mr. President, Yemen is imploding. We looked like knaves and fools by not showing up for the Paris march, and then you sent Secretary of State John”Lurch” Kerry and James Taylor to conduct a sing-a-long. You actually use the word terrorists in your speech, but then tell us that any response to a terrorist attack is a RASH decision??!! Your smarter, therapeutic kind of leadership is putting this country at major risk. Then you inform America that helping other countries or defending our own against terrorists is bullying. Boy, that’s a new one on me.

I guess that’s why you wanted the US to stop its ‘bluster’ diplomacy with Cuba. Never mind the fact that we have no idea if Cuba is going to uphold any part of their deal or not… nope you’d rather tell us that we need to take small steps. Mr. President, you go ahead and tiptoe through the tulips. Meanwhile the rest of us are going to do what we can to actually DEFEND our country against terrorists, hackers, and more.

Mr. President, you tell us that we expect you and everyone in DC to set a better example of leadership than we’ve had for the last 6 years.  A leader does not tell Congress, the United States, and the world:

I have no more campaigns to run.

And then arrogantly states:

Mr. President, America doesn’t need your narcissistic  style of bragging leadership. We need a leader who will show up to lead and understands the reality of the economic and national security issues we face.  Instead, we are saddled with a leader who’d rather order us to “turn the page” while he runs to the nearest golf course.