In 2010, The King’s Speech was an awarding-film based on a true story about England’s King George IV who had a stuttering problem. He overcame his condition to give a very important national radio speech about Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1939.
President Barack Obama made an important national television speech to Congress on Sept. 8. His Gallup Poll approval rating is at 42 percent, the lowest of his presidency. He didn’t, however, declare war on the Republican Tea Party.
It was, indeed, a missed opportunity. President Obama has been losing the message war. Unemployment stands at 9.1 percent. Black unemployment is at 16.7 percent, which is the highest in 27 years, when Republican Ronald Reagan was president.
The month before Obama took office in February 2009, the U.S. lost 779,000 jobs, the largest since 1929. Months later,
the bloodletting continued, bringing the unemployment rate to 10.1 percent in October of that year. Two years later, the unemployment rate is lower, at 9.1 percent. After eight years of Republicanism, the U.S. economy cannot return to President Bill Clinton’s four percent unemployment in just 24 months. That is the message Obama should have made.
President Obama failed to attack the cause of the problem, the Republican Tea Party. The Republican-led House of Representatives has the lowest approval rating in history, at 13 percent, and an 87 percent disapproval rating. How could this obvious fact not have been part of his speech or his message?
The president spoke about his American Jobs Act. It has a nice title but it has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled House. Republicans will oppose it even though it contains many of their ideas. Besides, it’s not big enough.
In 2010, the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, said it best: “The single most important thing that we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” He repeated that statement on Fox News earlier this year.
Republicans have declared war on President Obama and he still fails to recognize it. This is not change that we can believe in. He naively believes that Republicans will put politics aside and do what’s best for the country. It’s hilarious. Republicans will only do what’s best for Republicans.
The Republican mantra is simple: no taxes, no regulations and no government. They want to turn the clock back to the year 1860. Back then, another politically unpopular president was elected, Abraham Lincoln. He called for nationalism and a strong union. Several states seceded from the union and formed the Confederacy because they wanted states’ right to continue slavery. The Confederates, much like today’s Tea Party, didn’t want the Federal government telling them what to do.
To further destroy the federal government, the Republicans have convinced President Obama to cut several governmental programs. Suddenly, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, energy, food and water safety, law enforcement are not necessary anymore. The Tea Party has decided that America doesn’t need these things.
In the process, we can lower taxes for millionaires and billionaires. We can give large corporations tax subsidies and tax refunds. For example, in 2009, Exxon Mobil Oil paid no income taxes on its $45.2 billion profit. In addition, according to the company’s financial statement, Exxon also received a $45 million tax refund.
Another important fact is that Americans will not vote against Social Security no matter how high unemployment is. More than 55 million Americans collect Social Security benefits today. This, again, is the message.
Just maybe, we will wake up after the 2012 election and our Federal government will be stronger and more united and our government will spend more taxpayer money on American jobs, education, healthcare, infrastructure, national defense and law enforcement.
Since we are 14 months away from the election, maybe we will get the King’s Speech instead of the President’s Speech. It would only be appropriate.
John Dudley is a local model, actor and freelance writer living in Miami Beach. He may be reached at Mrinvestor2u2002@yahoo.com.
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