Before President Obama’s State of the Union speech fades from report to Congress into campaign spin, in this report, we offer the official reaction statements from West OC Members of Congress Dana Rohrabacher (Republican) and Loretta Sanchez (Democrat). Also included are some comments about the facts and a reaction statement from Los Angeles philanthropist and entrepreneur businessman Eli Broad.

“Although he’d like us to, we should not forget, in his first two years as President, the Democrat party controlled both houses of Congress when he could have enacted any of the agenda items he advocated this evening,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in his prepared statement. “Yet he chooses to skirt responsibility and place blame everywhere else but on himself for his policy failures.”

We should note that during these years the Democrat Party fell short of the so called super majority in the Senate of 60 votes, thus the minority Republican party, by the filibuster mechanism, was still able to block the President’s agenda. The Republicans exercised, or threatened to exercise, the power to block several major Presidential initiatives.

“The Taliban’s momentum has been broken,” said President Obama during the introduction to his speech, “and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.”

Whether or not the President can claim success in Afghanistan will only be answered in the years ahead. Certainly there was not a widespread summer Taliban offensive last year. Unfortunately, that does not mean they are gone for good. The war continues and the future outcome is uncertain.

Now, the U.S. alongside the Afghanistan government is negotiating with the Taliban. Our West OC Reps Rohrabacher And Sanchez have expressed concern about these negotiations. (See our related articles below.)

“We remain committed to the red lines that we have consistently laid out,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Said on January 11, 2012, in response to a reporter’s question about the negotiations, “namely that both the Afghan Government and the international community must see the insurgents renounce violence, break with al-Qaida, and support the laws and constitution of Afghanistan, including protecting the rights of women and minorities.”

With recent press reports of Afghanistan atrocities against women, even with a major U.S. military presence, it is hard to imagine that without our presence and a settlement negotiated with the Taliban, reasonable individual liberties will be protected. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher goes even further.

In fact, he recently introduced H.Res. 529, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the U.S. should not consider releasing five Taliban prisoners from GITMO until Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, has been turned over to the United States.

“It has been widely speculated that Omar is enjoying safe harbor in Pakistan,” Rohrabacher said in a statement yesterday. “The Obama Administration is currently pursuing ‘peace talks’ with the Taliban under the guise of support for an Afghan-led process of reconciliation or ‘reintegration’ of the Taliban as if they were once a positive part of Afghan society.

“This concept is not just dangerous, but absurd,” said Rohrabacher. “The Taliban are Islamic extremists backed by a foreign power, Pakistan, uninterested in integrating or protecting the rights of minorities and women. They want to conquer and radically transform society, evidenced by the brutal oppression they inflicted on Kabul and other parts of the country under their rule from 1994-2001.”

Yesterday the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan appeared to agree more with Rep. Rohrabacher, than his Executive Branch bosses.

"Continued deliberate attacks on the people of Afghanistan that result in the brutal murder of defenseless women and children clearly show that this heartless insurgency has no moral compass whatsoever," Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, International Security Assistance Force commander, said in a statement yesterday about a recent insurgent rocket attack on civilians. "I join President Karzai in extending my deepest sympathies to the families of those who were killed, and in praying for the fastest recovery of those who were injured in this needless tragedy."

Allen added that Taliban leader Mohammed Omar's "deafening silence and inaction in stopping these ongoing attacks against innocent Afghan civilians shows that his foot soldiers are now giving the orders while he and his inner circle reside in comfort, allowing the killing of their own brothers and sisters."

Then there are taxes, an apparently irreconcilable Republican/Democrat divide.

“Perhaps most disturbing was the President’s attempt to put Americans against each other along economic lines,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. “President Obama has put the American people $5 trillion more in debt even while there’s been a shameless enrichment of political cronies under this administration. It’s enough to make Ulysses S. Grant blush.”

President Obama has been trying without success to get income tax reform through the Republican controlled House of Representatives. He focused on this issue again in the State of The Union Speech.

“We need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes,” said President Obama. “Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up…Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.”

At least one Los Angeles zillionaire apparently agrees. Eli Broad is a philanthropist and entrepreneur businessman who is the founder-chairman of two Fortune 500 companies, Kaufman and Broad Home Corporation and SunAmerica. He and his wife Edythe are founders of The Broad Foundations and signatories of the Giving Pledge. Eli Broad issued the following statement:
“LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25, 2012-- As President Obama said last night, those of us Americans– millionaires and billionaires – who have been blessed with extraordinary success, have an obligation to pay more taxes. We've been protected long enough with tax breaks that 99.9 percent of Americans do not have, and it is not fair.

“As a lifelong Democrat and also a businessman, I strongly believe that a more equitable American taxation policy -- one that abolishes excessive tax breaks that provide disproportionate, unnecessary gains for those who are already extremely wealthy -- would benefit the vast majority of Americans and help jumpstart our economy.

“I also believe that a fair and equitable tax policy would still appropriately incentivize entrepreneurs and business leaders who play a critical role in our economy by creating jobs and starting businesses.

“But paying our fair share is simply the right thing to do. And there's no more important time for this to be done.”

West Orange County’s only Democrat Representative, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez released the following statement after President Obama’s State of the Union speech.

“Tonight the President outlined his vision for our great country. I was glad a majority of his speech focused on our economy and the changes we must implement in order to get us back on track. A growing divide exists within our middle class, and this divide will continue until we implement real reform to our tax structure – both for families and for corporations. We must put into place a fair tax structure that eliminates tax breaks for the top two percent of income earners - the rich must pay their fair share.

“The President also devoted a good portion of his speech to the importance of affordable housing - I’m glad he made this a bigger priority than last year. The residents I represent in Orange County have and continue to suffer from scam mortgage lenders and high foreclosure rates, and stabilizing the housing industry must be a priority by the Administration and Congress. I look forward to working with the President to execute his plan to further address the foreclosure crisis so we can together make America a better place to live.

“Another component to continuing our economic improvement is investing in our children’s education. I applaud the President’s commitment to keeping the costs of public education down - higher education is fundamental to the success of our nation. The President took a strong stance tonight, stating that public universities that keep raising tuition rates will see a decline in taxpayer dollars. I agree with the President, and believe it is imperative that every student who dreams of a college education is able to afford one.

“While the President touched on immigration, I’m disappointed the Administration and this Congress has not focused enough on this issue. Comprehensive immigration reform simply must be addressed in a meaningful, substantive way – it is fundamental to our economic improvement and to the fabric of our nation.

“Bottom line – while many Americans continue to struggle, the President reminded us tonight how resilient the people of our country are, and that our great nation is strong and growing even stronger. I share his commitment to getting Americans back to work and looking forward to an even better tomorrow.”
[End of Sanchez statement]

The following is the full text of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s statement released right after the speech. Above, we quoted certain sections of the following, which is included here in its entirety.

“The American people should be disappointed that instead of conducting a serious discussion with the nation, President Obama instead demonstrated his political agility by taking a stand on both sides of every major issue.

“He profusely praised the military yet he is the strongest advocate for cutting the military. He pledged himself to an ‘all of the above’ policy to make America energy independent but just a few days ago nixed the Keystone Pipeline, one of the country’s most important energy projects. He bragged about bailouts early in the speech and by the end of the speech proclaimed there should be no more bailouts. He puffed out his chest on Iran yet was demonstrably absent when not too long ago the Iranian people marched for democracy in the streets of Tehran.

“The fact the president’s speech was filled with new agenda items is certainly reason for skepticism. Although he’d like us to, we should not forget, in his first two years as President, the Democrat party controlled both houses of Congress when he could have enacted any of the agenda items he advocated this evening. Yet he chooses to skirt responsibility and place blame everywhere else but on himself for his policy failures.

“Perhaps most disturbing was the President’s attempt to put Americans against each other along economic lines. President Obama has put the American people $5 trillion more in debt even while there’s been a shameless enrichment of political cronies under this administration. It’s enough to make Ulysses S. Grant blush.

“This speech was a missed opportunity. The country needs leadership and statesmanship and tonight we got political posturing.”