Pres. Obama's address and Gov. Jindal's response

Pres. Obama, as we all know, is a fine speaker. He promises us rainbows and unicorns while he also speaks of dark clouds and hard times. His best line was "We are not quitters." And he is certainly right about that. But Pres. Obama's solution always remains with the government, and that is the problem. Obama saying that he didn't believe in bigger government was on it's face, laughable. Obama has gotten very good at saying one thing and doing another.

I don't doubt Pres. Obama's sincerity. He believes that what he is doing is what is best for the country. He simply believes in the role of government over the role of the market and the people.

Liberty and freedom should never be diminished because of fear and uncertainty. Hard times are not reason enough to hand over to our government what makes us great, the free market and the decisions we make for ourselves.

But the first line of Gov. Jindal's response was exactly on point:

Who amongst us would ask our children for a loan so we could spend money we do not have on things we do -- we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It's irresponsible. And it's no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs, or build a prosperous future for our children.

He also pinpointed our fundamental differences:

In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the national Democratic view that says the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, to empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs.

Meanwhile MSNBC tries to regain some semblance of journalistic integrity by actually fact checking Obama's speech. They call him on saying that only deserving homeowners will receive help in the mortgage crisis among many other things.

McCain called Obama out on the "no earmarks" comment. McCain said to Katie Couric: "But when he says there are no earmarks - I just picked up a bill that we are going to take up tomorrow that has 9,247 earmarks in it,” a combative McCain continued. “What am I supposed to believe here?” Pres. Obama reminds me of a snakeoil salesman. Saying all the right things with a charming smile, promising us cures, but none of us really know what we are buying.

One thing not mentioned by Pres. Obama of course, is the taxes he is planning and the effect it will have on all of us.

As someone at NRO noted, PBS, Mark Shields said that the President is more popular than his policies. True. People just like Obama as a person (and some, of course, are wacko over him). Not enough people are paying real attention to what this "change" really means for America.