Obama unsure which direction to lead the country just as he's unsure which church to attend.

[PHILIP SCHNEIDER]

Without the good reverend Wright screaming at him he seems to have lost his udder rudder.

January 29, 2010 | By Amanda Reinecker
The state of our union has been better

Even before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address on Wednesday, most lawmakers and most Americans already knew the current state of our union. To put it gently, it has been better.

President Obama has spent a year in office, without much to show for it -- apart from a staggering economy, increased debt, weaker defense and foreign policies, and several costly big-government proposals that have stalled in the Congress. His speech this week gave him the opportunity to present Congress and the American people with a fresh set of ideas for future.

Heritage President Ed Feulner outlines what the President should have said:

You need a new approach and fresh domestic and foreign policies. The caps on spending which reports [Monday] said you were considering are but an exceedingly modest first step, and the devil is in the details. The caps will do virtually nothing to improve the nation's fiscal health unless you tackle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Shifting tactics and stoking populism will be both cynical and condescending to the voters, who will see through this strategy.

Unfortunately, Heritage experts agree, that's not what we got. As Heritage's Conn Carroll writes, "this was a speech only the entrenched interests in Washington could love."

» Read how Heritage experts reacted to all of the issues raised (and not raised) in the President's address.

The President's speech was an attempt "to keep all of [his] legislative efforts alive while also acknowledging that the country has firmly rejected his policy agenda," writes Carroll. It was a call to forge ahead with tax-and-spend policies, despite receding public support and ever-growing debt.

So why forge ahead? The President "still believes the problem is that people fail to understand his goals," suggests Heritage fellow and former Congressman Ernest Istook. "Instead, his problem is that we understand them all too well."

Summarizing President Obama's address for Politico.com, Heritage's Rory Cooper writes:

He said he wanted to control spending, and then rattled off a laundry list of liberal investments (free money!). He asked for alternatives to health care reform, ignoring that conservatives have been offering them up by the dozens all year. He said he hadn't raised taxes, which simply is not true. He envisioned government subsidized railroads, jobs and industry. And he intimidated and scolded the Supreme Court who sat there by duty taking it. That was not a very presidential moment, nor calculated very wisely.

The President also discussed the threat America faces from terrorism -- but just barely. It wasn't until about 40 minutes into his speech that the President gave the matter even a passing mention.

"This isn't surprising," writes Heritage security expert Jena Baker McNeil. Despite last year's terror attack at Fort Hood and the near miss on Christmas Day, "Obama [is often] reluctant to embrace the responsibility of defending the nation against acts of terrorism."

In an open letter to the White House, Heritage President Ed Feulner tells the President that "it's the policies you need to change, not the spin." Unfortunately, the President's address was laced with more of the same: big-government; bloated spending; and lofty promises.

[Carmen Mesa]

They better notttt

[Emery McClendon]

The Republicans want to look like they are working with and getting alog with The President. They must not compromise or give in. We have to continue to stand strong. Which means letting them know that our message is the same. We don't want the "Change" of this administration. We must stand up for The Constitution.

[Oregon Country Girl]

No...the Republicans better not give in, or they'll completely blow their credibility with the voters. The voters will lose trust in them if they compromise with this radical agenda to "transform America". They need to ignore Obama's pouting and whining...the American people do not want his "leftist" agenda!