After an embattled year in which President Obama saw his popularity and approval ratings plunge like a neckline at the Oscars, Obama came out swinging for over 71 minutes during his first ever State of the Union Address last night in Washington.

The address before Congress comes not only after a long and difficult year in which President Obama broke one campaign promise after another; Close Gitmo (still open), end the war (sent more troops), and air Health Care Reform debates on C-SPAN (all done behind closed doors), it also comes on the heels of major losses to the GOP in governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey and, the worst insult of all, the loss of a U.S. Senate seat in Liberal Mecca, Massachusetts.

So, the President came out and declared that jobs would be, well, Job One for his administration.  This after comes again as a shock to many Americans who clearly recall Barack Obama running in 2008 and promising to fix the economy and to put Americans back to work.  Meanwhile in 2009 the unemployment rate rose to double-digits, even as President Obama and Veep Joe Biden constantly claimed that the stimulus saved or created millions of jobs.

Obama repeated that claim last night saying his administration had “saved” four million jobs.  Which four million and how is not clear.  To anyone.

Obama stuck to his progressive agenda for Health Care reform, Cap and Trade, and he called for a new jobs bill, choosing wisely in the current political climate not to say jobs stimulus.  Although that’s what the bill amounts to, yet another stimulus.

Obama did put forth some appropriate and prudent measures calling for lawmakers to establish a single website for disclosing all “earmarks” before they come to a vote.  Sounds great, but will it stop a single “earmark” or cause one less dollar to be spent in “earmarks”?

Obama also called for a doubling of the child tax credit, an excellent idea taken straight out of the GOP playbook.  The President also proposed taking $30 billion of the money that Wall Street Banks have repaid from the stimulus and using those funds to support community banks in giving credit to small businesses.  Another good idea.  

Obama called for an end to tax breaks for those U.S. companies that outsource jobs overseas and to offer rewards or incentives to those who do not outsource.

Obama also promised a freeze on discretionary spending in the U.S. budget.

In breaking out a calculator and looking at the much ballyhooed tax cuts vs. the proposed increases, it just doesn’t add up.

“After losing a Senate seat in Massachusetts and a year of failed policies, I’m glad the President is finally listening to the American people and coming around to policies that conservatives have been advocating for years – giving tax breaks to small businesses that create jobs and cutting the capital gains tax. However, the President can’t have it both ways. Cutting some taxes while raising others to pay for new, expensive government programs, doesn’t add up,” said Representative Michael McCaul (R- Texas).

McCaul went on to say, “What people want and what our country needs is a real commitment to create jobs, improve the economy and cut the deficit, not just expand the welfare state. Unfortunately, the President still does not show a commitment to cut spending. His $250 billion in savings over the next 10 years is merely symbolic, and is a drop in the bucket compared to our trillion dollar annual deficits. A spending freeze on discretionary programs only serves to secure the 57% increase in spending that the President approved in his first year in office. At this rate, our $12.2 trillion national debt will continue to climb. Tonight the President demonstrated that he either fails to understand the severity of our debt, or he prefers to ignore the American people’s cries to stop digging a hole for our children to climb out of.”

President Obama also said there is a “deficit of trust in government” in our nation. 

"We have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now.  We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years,” President Obama said. "Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it's time for something new.  Let’s try common sense.”

Those words were designed to lead America in a new direction, yet seemed to echo more broken promises for President Obama’s 2008 campaign where he promised a new way of doing business in Washington again begging the question what happened in 2009?

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele released a statement on the RNC’s Facebook page saying, “After a year of failed policies and broken promises, the President had shown rhetorical flair in an attempt to sound populist, if not downright conservative.  By all accounts his explanation failed to answer the question on the mind of Americans:  ‘When will I get a job?’”

Steele continued, "Last year, he promised a 'New Era of Responsibility' and instead delivered the exact opposite. Now that he’s offering a 'New Foundation for Prosperity,' business owners and the unemployed alike have reasons to be worried.  There is just no amount of spin and blame shifting that can hide the fact that tonight the President added more zeros to an already burdensome deficit with no explanation as to how he would pay for this 'new foundation.' As a good construction worker will tell you – foundations cost money."

Steele concluded by saying, “If the President is serious about getting America’s fiscal house in order, he can start by setting aside his $1.2 trillion government takeover of our healthcare system.”

Blame It On Bush –

With a full year in office as the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama revealed more about his true nature while demonstrating exactly why there is a “deficit of trust” by Americans when he harkened back to an all-too familiar theme last night by saying, "By the time I took office, we had a one year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade. Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program. On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget. All this was before I walked in the door.”

President Obama has failed to learn that broken promises equate to lies in the minds of most Americans.  President Obama has also failed to learn that Americans appreciate a president, a leader of any kind, who accepts responsibility.  If Mr. Obama truly wants to do away with a “deficit of trust”, then he should stop pointing fingers at the man who left office over a year ago and focus instead on listening intently to and following the direction of the people of the United States of America.

Obama closed his first State of the Union with "We don't quit. I don't quit."  However, Massachusetts may be the first real proof that if Mr. Obama doesn’t improve his job performance, he may well join the ranks of the unemployed by receiving a resounding “You’re fired” from the American people.