When It Comes To Combatting Gun Violence, the Real Empty Seat is in the Oval Office

Bob Barr / Townhall Columnist

 

At one time in the United States, when storied leaders like Thomas Jefferson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan walked the corridors of the White House, the annual State of the Union actually meant something. Whether delivered as a written report, or in person to a joint session of Congress, the ceremonial act was, as Article II of the U. S. Constitution mandates, an opportunity for the President to “give to the Congress information of the state of the union,” as well as recommend policies to fix the issues currently facing the nation. Most importantly, given the stature and respect of those delivering the remarks, State of the Union addresses were events that Americans looked to for real substance, reassurance, and even inspiration.

Today -- and especially since Bill Clinton discovered that States of the Union provided an excellent opportunity to present a political laundry list for his Party's supporters -- we are lucky to get just one genuine fact that has not first been put through the ringer of highly paid speechwriters, political consultants, and Party apparatchiks. Even guests of the First Family have become political pawns, carefully chosen to serve as human exclamation points to punctuate the cause du jour featured in the President’s speech.

This year, the theatrics that accompanied Barack Obama's final State of the Union took a new twist, with one visitor's seat left vacant as a contrived “memorial” to the victims of gun violence; used by the President to shame Congress for its supposed inaction on gun control.

Iran confiscates GPS equipment from seized Navy boats, says it will “prove that the American ships were ‘snooping'”
By Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

And in a few days, Obama will give them 100 billion dollars. “Iran Holds Two U.S. Navy Boats After Mechanical Problems, Officials Say,” by Helene Cooper, New York Times, January 12, 2016: WASHINGTON — The crews of two small United States Navy patrol boats were picked up by the Iranian authorities in the Persian Gulf […]
 
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Flow of Muslim Fighters into Iraq, Syria Unrelenting, “Alarming” as ISIS broadens its weaponry

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs

Photo: ISIS Has $1B worth Of US humvee armored vehicle.

ISIS is gaining followers at an “alarming” rate.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

In his State of the Union address, mullah Obama said, “fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages ….. do not threaten our national existence. We don’t need to build them up to show that we’re serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world’s largest religions. We just need to call them what they are — killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed.”

Even the the SOTU, Obama is stumping for Islam...

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