President Obama's State of the Union Address
President Obama gave the annual State of the Union address this week and as many predicted, it was book-ended with comments on the military. Taking credit for the end of the Iraq war, he started with the one accomplishment that was bi-partisan enough for wide support but partisan enough for the upcoming election. In reality it was the Iraqi government's decision to not to extend the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and Iraq. In one of his final acts in office former President Bush signed the 2008 SOFA with the Iraqi parliament that required the removal of US combat troops from Iraq by January 1, 2012; that is, unless the Iraqi parliament approved an extension which the Pentagon was heavily pushing for.
President Obama, while he didn't say that he nor Congress ended the Iraq occupation, he did exaggerate if not falsify the United State's unwarranted intervention into Iraq by saying, "We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world" for which he received a bi-partisan standing ovation. If by safer he means our assumptions that we are being protected from a domestic attack from the people of Iraq who are busy trying to survive in a country decimated by the United States because of the lunacy of one man, then yes we are safer. If by respected he is referring to the fear of indefinite detention, enhance interrogation, and extreme rendition- then yes, we are respected. And in this safety and respect, we are certainly creating more animosity, more hatred, and an increasingly tarnished, to say the least, image of the United States that touts itself as the land of the free and beacon of democracy across the globe. Freedom for whom? Safety for whom? Respect for whom? The President's assumptions seem to be egoistical if not maniacal.
In the end, the state of the Union is not the decided by one man and his cabinets nor is it at the discretion of Congress. Rather, the state of the Union is within each and every one of us. When we fail to enact and utilize our rights as citizens, we lose them. When we defer to platitudes, ideologies, and aggression we are creating infighting - a tactic used to divide and distract while 'business is unusual' is carried out in those circles that take this country down a path alien to the ideals and morals of the citizenry. This isn't to say that inaction is the only way to appeasement. Instead of small or big government we need smart government and while we hear many candidates expressing delusions of grandeur, something changes when they enter the bureaucratic halls. Soon the process becomes the fight and the fight is no longer for the people. Say what you will about reform or revolution. Say what you will about the Tea Party or OWS. All are ways to change a nation that sees change in others not within themselves. Changes do not come from one individual or a small group of people working to protect a minority and sacrifice a majority. Change comes from the 'us.'
