Westmoreland Disappointed in President Obama's Fourth State of the Union Address

Statement

Last night, President Obama gave his fourth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Below is Congressman Westmoreland's statement.

"What can I say. The president's State of the Union speech was the same thing we have heard in the previous speeches -- higher taxes, more government spending, more regulations on small businesses. If I tried to highlight every problem I had with the speech and every stretch of the truth in it, my reaction statement would end up as long as his speech. So let me point out one of the most troubling: his discussion of our national security.

"In what has become the norm with President Obama's approach to our national defense, he made conflicting statements. He admitted that al Qaeda and the multiple terrorist networks around the world are still a threat to Americans. But he then stated his plan to transfer the responsibility of fighting that threat to countries like Yemen, Libya, and Somalia. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I can tell you right now that while I am sure the military forces of those three countries work and train hard, they cannot possibly match the capabilities of the United States military. And I certainly don't want to trust another country's military to protect our citizens and our homeland. We took this "hands off" approach to the terrorist threat before -- and it resulted in the horrible attacks on September 11th 2001.

"And while the president mentioned the impact the upcoming sequester will have on our national defense, he did not offer a reasonable plan to avoid it. House Republicans have passed two different pieces of legislation to stop the sequester and the president has spoken out against both -- even though just before the president's speech, his spokesperson admitted the idea of the sequester originated in the White House.

"Most shocking, he essentially glazed over the threat posed by rogue nations like North Korea and Iran -- even after the nuclear test conducted by North Korea early yesterday morning. These two countries pose a very real and serious threat to our country and his statement, 'Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense, and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats' was not only childishly idealistic and unrealistic, it was downright dangerous," stated Westmoreland.

For the rest of the week, the congressman's office will be putting out several blogs entitled State of the Union: Fact or Fiction. Each one will highlight different issues the president discussed during tonight's speech and provide facts to show whether his statements were accurate or whether he was stretching the truth.

For the full text of the president's speech, click here.

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