Max Rockatansky
01-31-2014, 12:51 PM
The tone of this year's SOTU is decidedly different from last year's. As several articles have stated, last year he was coming off a successful election campaign. This year he's looking at more of the same from a Republican House while simultaneously going into an election year where there is a true danger of losing control of the Senate.
Instead of shooting for the Moon, the President has wisely decided to shoot for the low hanging fruit.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/29/fact-check-state-of-the-union/5001433/
We found a few overstatements and cherry-picked numbers among the applause lines and proposals in President Obama's State of the Union address.
• He boasted of businesses creating "more than 8 million new jobs" in the last four years. But that leaves out a loss of government jobs, not to mention the loss of jobs earlier in Obama's presidency.
• Obama credited the Affordable Care Act with signing up more than 9 million Americans for private insurance or Medicaid. But Medicaid estimates include renewals, along with new enrollees.
• Obama boasted that the U.S. "reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth." Yes, but the U.S. produces a lot of emissions. Looking at percentage change, dozens of countries did better.
• Federal deficits have been "cut by half," as he said, but they're still at historically high levels.
• It's also true, as Obama said, that for the first time in 20 years, domestic oil production was greater than imports. But the increase in U.S. production is primarily due to new technology, not government policy.
....more
Instead of shooting for the Moon, the President has wisely decided to shoot for the low hanging fruit.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/29/fact-check-state-of-the-union/5001433/
We found a few overstatements and cherry-picked numbers among the applause lines and proposals in President Obama's State of the Union address.
• He boasted of businesses creating "more than 8 million new jobs" in the last four years. But that leaves out a loss of government jobs, not to mention the loss of jobs earlier in Obama's presidency.
• Obama credited the Affordable Care Act with signing up more than 9 million Americans for private insurance or Medicaid. But Medicaid estimates include renewals, along with new enrollees.
• Obama boasted that the U.S. "reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth." Yes, but the U.S. produces a lot of emissions. Looking at percentage change, dozens of countries did better.
• Federal deficits have been "cut by half," as he said, but they're still at historically high levels.
• It's also true, as Obama said, that for the first time in 20 years, domestic oil production was greater than imports. But the increase in U.S. production is primarily due to new technology, not government policy.
....more