This was not worthy of his promises in 2008 and helped poison our politics.
By Cong. Roger Williams
WASHINGTON D.C. (Texas Insider Report) L
ast night we heard President Obamas State of the Union Address. Thankfully it was his last.
Rather than hear another one of his self-important speeches I wish the president had offered something else: an apology. Of course that would have required a very long speech indeed. Once again the president acted like the last few years have been a big triumph for the country.
Its sad to see a leader so unaware of how so much has gone wrong. Yet little had changed last night from the previous seven.
I wish he would have apologized for saying in 2008 that President Bush should have worked with Congress more and relied on executive power less. Ironic isnt it? President Obama failed his own standard miserably. Time and again he blatantly ignored the will of Congress and even sneered that he had a pen by which he could do what he wanted.
I wish he would have apologized for ignoring the advice of the military and pulling virtually all our troops out of Iraq. Many people including President Bush in 2007 specifically warned of a vacuum that would be created in Iraq if we pulled out. President Bush even warned that what might emerge in that vacuum could be as bad or
worse as al Qaeda. What prophetic words. Thanks to President Obamas decision ISIS emerged and we will be paying the price for years to come.
I wish he would have apologized for his administration telling the country that Benghazi was the result of a spontaneous protest to a video ... even when his Secretary of State knew almost immediately it was a coordinated terrorist attack.
I wish he would have apologized for his comments in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attack ... when he seemed unemotional and detached except to get angry when talking about Republicans and domestic politics. The families of the victims deserved better.
I wish he would have apologized for making Irans path to nuclear power all the easier. How ironic that on the day the president prepared to deliver his last State of the Union the Iranians took over two American Navy vessels. And we are supposed to still trust them on the nuclear agreement?
I wish he would have apologized for telling Americans if they liked their health care they could keep it ... even though he knew no such thing was possible.
I wish he would have apologized for the anemic economy he has presided over. How sad that Jimmy Carter helped create more jobs in four years than Barack Obama has in seven.
I wish he would have apologized for being a Constitutional law professor who clearly doesnt understand the 2nd Amendment.
I wish he would have apologized for Eric Holder. The Justice Department was out of control during Holders tenure. And nothing speaks to the incompetence more than three words that will haunt the president in history: Fast and Furious.
I wish he would have apologized for helping to poison our politics. The man who promised to bring us together as president took special joy in ridiculing and demeaning his opponents. Rather than confront conservative ideas at face value he went to great lengths to distort our arguments and create straw men argument that he could
bludgeon to death. This was not worthy of his promises in 2008 and this was beneath the dignity of the office.
As I said this kind of speech though honest would have been very long. But the president has no intention of apologizing because the president has no idea of the chaos he is leaving behind. He thinks hes done great; thats what all his friends and The New York Times editorial board tell him.
For the rest of us we live with the toxic results of this administration. And so we must count the days until this presidency ends and until America gets a new president and a new start on the challenges facing our country.
Until then Mr. President its not too late. You still have a year left to realize what to do. And though you cant reverse your decisions you can do something else: apologize to America.
Congressman Roger Williams represents the 25th Congressional District of Texas stretching from Tarrant County in the north to Hays County in the south including most of Fort Hood and much of the Texas Hill Country and Austin. Williams serves on the Financial Services Committee including the subcommittees on Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit Housing & Insurance and the Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing.
