You know, I would say Incomplete…but what I would say is the steps that we have taken in saving the auto industry, in making sure that college is more affordable and investing in clean energy and science and technology and research, those are all the things that we are going to need to grow over the long term. — 2012

My Take – College is more affordable?  I guess all that talk about the education bubble I’ve been hearing is just defeatist propaganda perpetrated by the enemies of our glorious forward thinking leaders.  I’m sure that students and parents must be brimming with joy every time they get a letter from their educational institute advising them of a tuition hike that is several times more than the inflation rate.  But the President knows all about education.  He picks a great NCAA basketball tournament bracket, doesn’t he?

And yes, the auto industry has been saved, at least the part of it that couldn’t make it on its own in a competitive marketplace, assuming you don’t count Ford, Mercedes, Hyundai, Toyota, or Kia, all of which seem to be doing really well making cars in the United States without a penny of taxpayer money.  But hey, all those years of loyal service to the President’s party has to earn the UAW something, didn’t they?

And where would we be without all that investment in green energy that President Obama has brought down like rain on a fertile field.  I mean, just this morning, I couldn’t get out of my driveway without stopping to let columns of fuel efficient vehicles, powered by new advanced battery technology that was energized by clean, cheap solar panels bolted any flat surface and windmills that not only generated clean power, but also freshened the air and provided necessary avian carrion for our fragile coyote population.  Except that that didn’t happen, and more money than I or my children will make in our lifetimes might as well have been set on fire, because at least then it could have generated some heat to run a steam turbine and generate some actual electricity.

But you don’t make progress by being stingy with the public funds, now do you?  Unless, of course, you count the amazing amount of innovation that occurred in aviation in the 1920’s and 1930’s when the government wasn’t spending much money on airplanes.  Or maybe you can point to the early years of computer networking, which was indeed funded by DARPA.  But then, DARPAnet was pretty much a government and university only kind of thing for the better part of two decades, until someone figured out how to make some money from web pages, and then the Internet took off.

Yeah, those programs that the President has been so proud of have been really great for the economy and the country, haven’t they?  Four more years of this and we’ll be just where he wants us to be.

You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, a lot like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. — 2008

My Take – As a citizen who comes from one of those small towns in the midwest, where for a long time jobs were hard to find, but people held on through the lean years with hard work and taking care of each other, the President can kiss my bitter, clinging butt.  While those of us in fly over country kept our faith in ourselves, in our country, in our heritage, and in our religion, our ‘betters’ in the more ‘enlightened’ parts of the country have been promising the profits of our labor to three generations of people who think that welfare is a career, not a temporary situation.   I hate to break it the President, but it’s those of us who refuse to let go of the bedrock upon which our country was founded and built that keep the wheels on while profligate twits like him debate how many welfare cheats can dance on the head of a pin.

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action. — 2007

My Take –  I agree with what he said in 2007.  Congress declares war.  The executive branch prosecutes wars, but it has to get an OK from the people’s representatives before it does so.   Apparently going to Congress over Libya wasn’t necessary, no matter how necessary it was before the President was elected.  By sneering at those who called him on it, the President spit upon over 200 years of tradition and good practice, including during times of national emergency, such as after Pearl Harbor and 9/11.  I just hope that Libya was an aberration, and not a portent of what we can expect in the future.  When a national leader has unfettered power to instigate wars, without even the rubber stamp of getting approval from the legislature, nothing will stop them from using and abusing that new power.