Handicapping The State Of The Union

So Obama’s “big” State of the Union is tonight. I’m not watching it because I’d rather have my fingernails ripped out. I suspect many of you won’t bother either. The truth is that nothing he says will matter because no real legislation is going to get out of the Congress and the things his supporters want aren’t things he can deliver through regulations. Still, that doesn’t stop the left from dreaming.

There have been a bunch of articles lately outlining all the things leftists want Obama to deliver, and they think the SOTU will be the speech that starts the ball rolling. Here’s your scorecard of what the left thinks is coming:

● Gays. Gays want Obama to force everyone to grant benefits to gay partners. However, this would require significant new legislation. The best Obama can do is extend benefits to federal employees, which he hasn’t done yet. He may do that. Also, the Pentagon is about to extend benefits to the partners of gay soldiers.

● Angry Chicks. Feminists want an “equal pay” bill which would allow the federal government to establish wages throughout the economy by declaring jobs to be “comparable” and then forcing employers to pay the same to those professions. However, that would require a constitutional change, so forget it. The Democrats keep dangling legislation to do this on a smaller scale, but that won’t pass either. The fallback demand now is to extend the Family Medical Leave Act to small business. Again, that requires legislation, so forget it.

● Environmentalists Environmentalists are praying that Obama revive the cult of global warming. They are particularly furious that he’s been focusing on energy production to please the proles, when he should be promising to shut down the economy. They are hoping Obama will use the EPA to issue regulations shutting down the US economy. I suspect Obama will do some of this. . . at least, to the extent it helps Obama donor G.E.

● Hispanics. Hispanic groups are hoping Obama demands immediate, unconditional citizenship for all illegals. This one will be interesting. If Obama wants to grant them citizenship, then he could embrace the Rubio bill and get it done – though there will be some conditions. But Obama also is a grandstanding jerk, and he’s likely to throw a huge wrench into this debate by laying down impossible demands and conditions and attacking Rubio.

● Gun nuts. Obama’s left flank has gone insane over gun control, even as the public’s interest in the issue has faded and as the NRA has been declared the winner by liberal media groups. Indeed, I had to laugh at an rather defeatist article the other day which noted that the DEMOCRATS in the Senate would kill any real reform. Ha ha. I would look for Obama to grandstand on this issue now because it’s safe for him to do since no bill will ever reach his desk.

As an interesting aside, California Democrats are already way over-playing their hand on this issue. California and New York have entered into a competition to have the strongest anti-gun laws. California Democrats are trying to up New York by proposing to ban all guns that can hold more than one bullet at a time and forcing people to pass background checks to buy ammo. Sadly for them, with there being no GOP in California, they may need to act on their words. That could be the kind of overreach that finally revives the GOP in California... assuming they give up on the immigration issue.

● Others. Interestingly, I haven’t heard much from unions. I’m not sure why. Perhaps they are satiated from their prior plundering. . . or they were just too lazy to put their demands together. Peaceniks seem pretty silent too now that Obama has become the Drone Warrior in Chief. And for some reason, blacks seem to be pretty quiet suddenly -- which is actually rather interesting given the massive levels of unemployment in the black community.

All in all, there are several things to consider when handicapping what Obama will say tonight:

1) He wants a legacy and he seems to have decided his legacy will be based on talking really far left. BUT...

2) He needs to be careful not to give his supporters what they want. If they get what they want, then they’ll go away and stop supporting him. Thus, he can only give them token changes.

3) His administration seems very worried about jobs because he doesn’t want to be known as the guy who presided over eight years of recession. So he absolute will not want anything that could slow the economy, i.e. nothing liberal.

The best way to satisfy these goals would be for Obama to give an angry leftist speech which lays out a laundry list of BIG demands that have no chance of getting passed because they require Congress to act. That way, his supporters will feel placated, but there’s no real risk of anything happening that could hurt the economy or satiate his supporters so they go home. That’s my guess. And I think his supporters will lap it up like idiots who don’t realize they’ve been sold a bill of goods.

Thoughts?