Barack H. Obama

For the record, I think those that make a big deal about Obama's middle name lack the courage to engage in meaningful discourse and should be ignored or rebuked. In watching his response to Bush's last State of the Union Address, however, it dawned on me that perhaps his middle name should be changed to "Hypocrite."

I could barely believe my ears when, after listening to him demonize Bush for a full three minutes of his speech, he then has the audacity (and, unlike hope, this actually was audacious) to hypocritically continue to rail against Bush with this nugget: "but from a broken politics in Washington; a politics that says it's OK to demonize your political opponents when we should be coming together to solve problems".

How do you possibly rationalize that statement three minutes into a rant railing against a political opponent with whom you have refused to "come to together, to solve problems"? Give me a break. Is he serious? Is he listening to himself?

In my judgment, a critical analysis reveals Obama offers nothing new. Just the continued push for the liberal-policies-du-jour, like abandoning Iraq and ending th e"tax cuts for the wealthy." Both policies have been the party-line for Democrats since 2004. Or the when it's the wealthy that are the ones that pay much more than their fair share of the tax burden and "the surge" is finally showing tremendous signs of progress, both policies would be awful.

I wish the Democrats would realize that "Bush is evil" is not a policy recommendation. But Obama simply continues to offer up more hatred of Bush and rants demeaning him and his record. Bush's is a mixed record for sure, but even liberals should acknowledge it's not all bad. Not a single US terrorist attack since 9/11. Years and years of continuous, and significant, economic growth -- despite a dot-com-boom bust and 9/11.

Senator Obama: If you want to prove you want to open a fresh chapter in America's political story, offer something actually new and stop hating on Bush. Offer some gratitude for the things Bush has done right. Do something during Bush's last term that shows actually shows you taking steps to work towards something in a bi-partisan fashion.

Until you do so, you, sir, are nothing but a hypocrite who happens to be able to spin some nice sounding prose.