THE SPEECH – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  The president delivers his State of the Union speech tonight.  Aren't you excited?  Be sure to set your recorders so you can enjoy the speech over and over, as I know you'll want to do.  We're even thinking of having a study party this weekend.

Okay, you're not excited.  Neither am I.  But look on the positive side:  Two years from today a new president will be inaugurated. Well, yes, it could be Hillary Clinton – Barack Obama without the charm – but let's hope it's not.

Obama tonight well unleash the train wreck that will be his last two years in office.  He's making it very clear that he intends to do through executive action what he could not do through legitimate legislation.  He's stripping off the mask, held in place by The New York Times and similar institutions, that has hid the fact that he's a true leftist.  Tonight we will see presented programs that will buy votes for the Democratic Party.  Tonight we will not see an emphasis on the national security of the United States. 

The Obamans are buoyed by one new poll that has the president's approval at 50%.  But, as we pointed out last night, that poll appears to be an outlier.  Obama's approval is probably in the low 40s, which is what other surveys show.  One major poll last week showed him in the high 30s. 

Obama will be facing a Congress in which both houses are controlled by Republicans.  Any thoughtful political practitioner would reach out under those circumstances, trying to find common ground.  I doubt if this president will do anything of the kind.  It's the ideology that interests him, not the results.  And he is already auditioning for his post-presidential role.  I suspect he'd like to be secretary-general of the UN, a position that would fit him well – presiding over a heavily Islamicized, mostly useless organization, a role that will free him of any loyalty to the American people, whom he seems to dislike.

It should be an entertaining evening, but not an enlightening one.

There could be one delight – the response from newly elected Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa.  We are already being told by the pundit class that responders to State of the Union speeches often hurt themselves by performing poorly or looking small, in the shadow of the president.  That is true.  The role of responder is sometimes called a curse.  But Joni Ernst is a terrific speaker.  She's sharp and bright.  I'm looking forward to her breaking the curse.

January 20, 2015