By Bill O'Reilly
First inaugural address delivered on April 30th, 1789 by George Washington. But not to the folks, Washington spoke directly to Congress. He appealed to the new leaders to be moral and just and he invoked God and heaven saying, quote, "the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained" unquote.
George Washington appealing for justice. Fast forward to 2013, when President Obama made a similar appeal. Rather than focusing on America's vexing problems like an exploding debt and a weak economy, Mr. Obama put forth that the nation's top priority must be imposing social justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of healthcare and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past when twilight years were spent in poverty. And parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: "Talking Points" disagrees with President Obama's priority, although social justice is a noble goal. It is simply impossible to do what the President wants to do. In short, prosperity for every American can't be done no matter how much money you spend. Much more effective is building a strong society based upon a robust free market and effective, effective social programs. That provide opportunity rather than charity.
As the President should know by now the federal government cannot provide for 320 million people. And the danger is that Mr. Obama's persistent attempts to do that to redistribute prosperity will bankrupt the nation, causing pain to everyone and making it impossible for poorly educated or disadvantaged Americans, whom he cited, to even make a living.
The President's 19 minutes address today was not an urgent call for Congress to reform entitlements, simplify the tax code, provide effective oversight on economic abuse or even stimulate the economy. None of that, none of it was on display.
So it is quite clear that the President is willing to go down in history as a crusader for social justice no matter what happens to the economic fabric of the country. He does not want to cut government spending. He does not want to reform entitlements that are now directly threatening the American treasury. Unless there is a radical change in the President's thinking, few problems will be solved over the next four years. We'll simply get more of the same.
And that's "The Memo."
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