On Monday, Barack Obama delivered a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. For all of his presidency, he has targeted big business as the enemy. Now, after the staggering defeats at the ballot box, he had to limp over to the Chamber in order to try to make nice. It didn’t work. The speech was more of the same, and it shows that when you are a left wing ideologue, it’s hard to become a politician.

Now some would already be jumping up and down, saying, “Hey, Obama IS the biggest politician on the planet.” I would argue that no, he isn’t. Bill Clinton was a politician. Barack Obama is an ideologue. Despite polls or surveys or interviews by the American public, Obama continued to put forward an agenda that was the polar opposite of what the people wanted. Yet, he kept pushing. Because of this, he took it on the chin in November, and now he and his advisors are certainly scrambling to make him sound more “in touch” with the country his is supposed to be leading.

Except for polite introductions and the conclusion, Obama’s 34-minute speech garnered applause only twice. In between, Obama talked about “winning the future.” It’s his team’s new line and one you will undoubtedly hear over and over again. What does it mean? Who knows, but he sure says it often. He also talked about the anxieties of the American people, and in just a few words, he showed just how out of touch he is.

Click here to read the speech.

If you care to watch for yourselves, here it is:

In describing the fears of the middle class, Obama said that they see “a widening chasm of wealth and opportunity in this country, and they wonder if the American Dream is slipping away.” A widening chasm of wealth? Is he for real? There is not a middle class worker out there who sits around the table wondering if the disparity between him and the guy in the mansion (whom he never sees) is growing. That is something for the liberal elite to discuss over tea. No, the middle class worker is 1) Thankful to have a job, and 2) if he/she does not have a job, that person is concerned about getting one so that bills can be paid, children can be fed, and so on. The concerns lie at home, not with some concept of what’s happening to the “rich” guy.

Obama continues: “They wonder if the middle class, rather than expanding as it has through our lifetimes, is in the midst of an inexorable contraction.” Do they? Is this what they spend their time pondering?

Obama and his team think that the middle class thinks about these topics, because Obama, Pelosi, and others spend countless hours telling the American people just how bad “big business” is or just how evil the “rich” are. Aren’t those big, bad companies the ones that employ thousands upon thousands of workers?

Obama then went on his cheerleading kick which he began in his State of the Union Address:

We know what it will take for America to win the future. We need to out-innovate, we need to out-educate, we need to out-build our competitors. We need an economy that’s based not on what we consume and borrow from other nations, but what we make and what we sell around the world. We need to make America the best place on Earth to do business.

Sounds good, eh? Except no one believes it. That passage was not even one of the lines that drew applause. Maybe it’s because no one believes it. America has countless regulations and has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. And Obama and his friends are actually wondering why American businesses are going overseas?

Then, while acknowledging the pressures that businesses face, Obama “challenged” them to do better with this nonsensical passage: “But as we work with you to make America a better place to do business, I’m hoping that all of you are thinking what you can do for America. Ask yourselves what you can do to hire more American workers, what you can do to support the American economy and invest in this nation.”

Is he serious? Do you really think businesses need to think about what they can do to hire more workers? Hiring workers is NOT a community service project. It is not done so that a business owner can feel good. It is done so that more products can be made and sold or so that more services can be rendered. It’s as simple as that. If America had a climate that was not hostile to business, that didn’t over tax and over spend, then the hiring part would be much easier.

Obama’s two applause lines? The first was when he said, “And I will tell you I will go anywhere anytime to be a booster for American businesses, American workers and American products.” The second was, “Now is the time to invest in America.” That’s it.

A much better line is, “Now is the time for America to get back to work.” All he has to do is repeat that line and then put forward policies that help meet that goal. Lower taxes, less regulation, less spending. These are the keys. I doubt he can even say the words.

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