In his fifth State of the Union address (SOTU) delivered to Congress on January 28, 2014, President Obama failed to utter a single word regarding government waste or the growing national debt, and threatened to continue acting as a “Congress of One,” legislating through the increased use of executive orders.  He not only failed to identify a significant cost-cutting proposal or promote an effective pro-growth policy, he also offered only a laundry list of new government spending programs.  The speech was long on self-congratulation and short on accomplishments because the President has little to preen about. 

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) had suggested that President Obama deliver a SOTU that focused on what Americans state over and over are their most critical concerns: the weak economy and job recovery, the nation’s growing debt, the elimination of duplicative and mismanaged government programs, the creation of pro-growth economic policies, and passing a slew of commonsense, bi-partisan legislation that has languished in the Senate after House approval, including regulatory reform, tax reform, and pro-growth energy initiatives.   

Instead, President Obama took credit for a 6.7 percent unemployment rate, yet ignored the 62.8 percent workforce participation rate, which is the lowest since 1977.  In other words, more people have left the workforce than have found jobs under the Obama administration.  Dismal new statistics released in a February 4, 2013 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report illustrate that the President’s signature law, the troubled Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) will lead to 2.5 million fewer workers in the labor market by 2024.  The number of hours worked will drop by 1.5 to 2 percent from 2017-2024.

The President took credit for cutting the deficit in half, yet ignored that they are still at historically high levels and will increase dramatically as Obamacare kicks in its most expensive provisions over the next decade. 

In terms of spending, he failed to address the backdoor earmarking and increases in discretionary spending included in the 2014 omnibus spending bill, which was rammed through the House and Senate.  The omnibus not only breached the sequester caps established in the 2011 Budget Control Act by $45 billion above the $967 sequester cap for FY 2014, but went another $26 billion above the $986 billion level set in the continuing resolution (CR) that expired on January 15, 2014.  A preliminary analysis by CAGW found that the 1,532-page bill was riddled with earmarks and increased spending for dozens of programs that have been cited as wasteful and ineffective by GAO, agency inspectors general, the CBO, and other budget analysts.

Five years into President Obama’s eight-year tenure, the nation faces one of the most stagnant economies in history.  Working-age people now make up the majority of U.S. households currently relying on food stamps, there are fewer people with jobs in the U.S. today than six years ago, and median household income has fallen by $2,400 over the last four years.  With 3.9 million people defined as long-term unemployed, $6.5 trillion added to the federal deficit since January 2009, a healthcare law with a $1.2 trillion price tag over the next 10 years, and 13 million more Americans are in poverty than when President Obama took office, the U.S. faces the slowest “recovery” since the Great Depression.        

The President’s economic incompetence and partisan intransigence only deepens the hole Americans find themselves in; limited opportunities and growing deficits and debt will haunt taxpayers now and for generations to come.  Creating an American political culture that provides equal opportunity for all begins with commonsense federal budgeting; spending no more than the government takes in.  With the national debt now at $17.2 trillion, every man, woman, and child in the U.S. population of 317,569,126 owes $54,345.01 as his or her share of the debt, or $149,430 for each taxpayer. 

In his remaining two SOTU addresses, President Obama should buckle down and put forth far-reaching, cost-cutting policies based on solid, long-standing proposals made by the GAO, CAGW, and many other analysts to carve out wasteful, duplicative programs that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) estimates cost more than $295 billion annually, just for starters.  The President must refrain from overzealously using executive orders to circumvent the legislative process and urge Senate Democrats to take up, debate, and pass the 40 jobs bills passed by the House, and give up any idea of further jacking up taxes on individuals or businesses.

The longer President Obama doubles down on complacency, mediocrity, and failure, the more entrenched his refusal to address the issues that are most pressing to Americans becomes and the longer this economic and fiscal slide will persist.  Polls show that 73 percent of registered voters believe the country is on the wrong track, 50 percent believe Washington’s inability to curb wasteful spending to solve the nation’s debt spiral is the most important issue facing the country, and 1-in-8 view the nation’s economic standing as fair or poor. 

President Obama is on track to leave a dismal and destructive legacy in his wake, which will hamper his successor and future taxpayers.  A rich and thriving economy ultimately begins with a pro-taxpayer leader who believes individual freedom and government accountability are the keys to creating a more prosperous and optimistic America.  Taxpayers can hope, but unfortunately should not expect to hear, such proposals in the next State of the Union Address.

  -- Alexandra Booze