The President’s Rhetoric

President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address is as memorable for what he didn't say as what he did.

During the course of his 65-minute speech, the president didn't mention the phrases ‘national debt' or ‘spending' once. It seems that working with the Congress to get our fiscal house in order and reduce our $17 trillion debt remains low on the totem pole for this Administration.

He did mention ‘small business,' but only three times in his 6,778-word address – in three consecutive sentences of the same paragraph. These private sector firms are our economy's job generators; yet economists at one small business group argue "it's hard to make the case that the small business sector has made significant progress" in recent years.

The president also spoke about income inequality, but failed to mention his own role in making that gap wider. Five years into his presidency, the labor force participation rate is at its lowest point since Jimmy Carter was in the White House. There are four million Americans who have been unemployed for at least six months, and another eight million Americans working part-time because they still cannot find a full-time job.

In fact, precisely because of the president's policies, it's harder to find a job or start a business. As the Wall Street Journal noted, most of his speech "…tried to address the economic insecurity that his own policies have done so much to create."

At the end of the day, the president's remarks inspire little confidence that he is prepared to address the critical economic challenges facing our nation.

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