Obama's State of the Union Speech or as Red State Headlines "The Sputnick Moment"

If you watched the speech, you will know about "The Sputnick Moment" that was probably what people will remember from the speech the most. My son called and asked if I was watching the speech and I told him no that I was watching NCIS. He told me Obama is looking to 2035 for the nation to be completely on renewable energy and asked how dumb was that which is what he remembered from the speech. Typical Obama was my reply looking very far out and ignoring today. Won't be blamed when it doesn't happen.

This morning I decided to look around at how the State of the Union speech was received and the one place I found the best summation was on Red State by Erick Erickson --short and to the point with no flowery rhetoric for a State of the Union speech short on details and long on rhetoric.

Think that the State of the Union speech over the years is being watched by fewer and fewer people. The speeches are long on rhetoric and short on details no matter who gives the speech. Looking forward to the day when a President delivers the State of the Union speech in 10 minutes or less because frankly most people lose interest very rapidly. It has been five years since I watched a State of the Union speech so you could say that I am bi-partisan -- don't watch either party. It seems like the speeches have gotten longer and said less over the years.

Must admit that comparing the economy to "The Sputnik Moment" makes me wonder at Obama's use of the word 'Sputnik' as he has set out to destroy NASA and the Space Program. His lack of knowledge of history that President Kennedy used the Russian 'Sputnik' launch to launch the Space race shows not only he doesn't understand history but then neither do his speechwriters.

If the current President and the people from the Ivy League he has surrounded himself with are an example of an Ivy League education, time to elect someone who is not from the Ivy League IMO. Obama did get his education at Columbia and Harvard after the post-60's movement when the education level seemed to drop as the protesters became professors and started inserting their liberal agenda into the classroom in the Ivy League and other so-called 'prestige' schools so a liberal education became the norm not the exception.  Is a liberal education short on actual history and long on rhetoric which was reflected in the Obama speech?  If so, the heads of these so-called 'prestige' universities might want to rethink their curriculum.

In some ways it is sad when "The Sputnick Moment" will be the hollow words remembered from the speech of President Obama who is dismantling the space program which is a 180 from President Kennedy who started the Space Race that landed a man on the moon. When that is all that someone remembers from the speech, Obama FAILED!

The Sputnik Moment
Posted by Erick Erickson
Wednesday, January 26th at 5:00AM EST

“Barack Obama did not jump the shark; he sputniked.”Barack Obama’s “Sputnik Moment” sums up his speech best. In fact, there is no reason to fully dwell on his speech in light of the sputnik moment. What do I mean? Consider this: Barack Obama declared that “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.” His reference was to the mobilization of the United States after the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite. President Kennedy mobilized the United States to aggressively combat the Soviets with not just an arms race, but with a space race — a race to the moon.

President Obama declared our present economic climate our sputnik moment then proceeded to ignore NASA in his speech while defunding our space program. Nevermind that he did not identify an enemy hell bent on destroying us. He just wanted to use the metaphor without regard for its historic meaning — something this President all too often does.

Barack Obama’s bold leadership will not lead to a new race to space. Rather, in his own words, Barack Obama’s “sputnik moment” is . . . wait for it . . . no seriously, wait for it . . . “solar shingles that are being sold all across the country.”

Not exactly a John F. Kennedy oratory moment. But wait, it gets even better as Barack Obama announces his intention to return us to the 1950’s.

As much as the Democrats caricature the Republicans as hell bent on driving us back to 1950’s style culture, Barack Obama is hell bent on driving us back to 1950’s style economics where people work for large corporations that subsist on government program subsidies and the employees all belong to unions. In the history of the United States, that world view is very recent.

Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs — none of these people needed government subsistence to innovate. They did it on their own. And those, like Jobs, Gates, and others that built off of government inventiveness, the inventiveness on which they built off of came from technological advancements in national security and war — an area of the budget the President is willing to cut.

Barack Obama’s speech was a terrible speech. The only saving grace for him is that it will not be remembered by the American public. Paul Ryan had much more substance and, surprisingly enough, Michelle Bachmann had the best speech of the night with both style and substance.

All and all, Barack Obama’s “sputnik moment” should stand in American history for a great buildup without delivery. Barack Obama did not jump the shark; he sputniked.

Source: Red State