Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the rounds of the Rose Garden Tuesday afternoon, giving hug after hug as the audience gathered for President Obama’s Obamacare victory lap.
However, many found it strange that Sebelius didn’t receive a “shout-out” from the president during his remarks, while Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin did.
Laura Ingraham certainly isn’t expecting President Obama to secure the country’s borders anytime soon, but she’d be thrilled if the governors of the border states policed their own states.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the primary initiatives are to build 17 new healthcare facilities with 100 beds each and train as many as 500 healthcare workers a week.
The US personnel will also provide home healthcare kits to approximately 50,000 households and establish a joint operations center in the capital of Liberia to set up further US and international programs.
It is expected to take the US forces about two weeks to get set up on the ground.
The US military personnel will consist of medics, engineers to build treatment facilities and logistics specialists to maximize the transportation of patients.
The Pentagon has asked that these efforts be paid for with the United State’s $500 million budget for overseas contingency operations.
Obama’s planned announcement will come after reports that the virus could mutate into an even more easily-transmitted disease and reach the US by the end of the month.
Washington has been heavily criticized for not taking the epidemic seriously enough, as Ebola has taken over 2,200 lives, infected over 4,000 people and is spreading at an exponential rate.
Senator Chris Coons (D-Del), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations African affairs subcommittee, said of the initiative,
This humanitarian intervention should serve as a firewall against a global security crisis that has the potential to reach American soil.
The US has spent more than $100 million to combat Ebola so far.
Cuba and China have committed to sending medical staff to Sierra Leone, one of the four most affected nations. Cuba will send 165 people in October, and China will build a laboratory to ramp up testing for the disease.
There is already a Chinese-funded hospital in Sierra Leone with 115 staff members.
An additional $58 million from the US will go towards increasing production of ZMapp, the drug cocktail that cured the first Americans to contract the disease last July.
The World Health Organization estimates that the affected nations will need at least four times the amount of healthcare workers they have now to prevent the disease from spreading out of West Africa.
The State of the Union address is a chance for the president to pat his or herself on the back while simultaneously laying out an agenda for the years to come.
Whether or not you agreed with everything he said, President Obama certainly did both during his speech last night.
He stood up and spoke in front of a Republican-controlled Congress for the first time in his presidency, and took full credit for the recent upturn in America’s economy.
President Obama also assured the audience his foreign policy has been both well-calculated and diplomatic.
Additionally, he contended America has been successful in its tenacious and courageous efforts to contain ISIS (or ISIL).
The president stated:
“Our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999″ – @BarackObama#SOTU
The president also highlighted America’s advances in space exploration and his desire to send American astronauts to Mars.
In other words, Obama stood up in front of the world last night and essentially stated:
Look people, the economy is kicking ass, America is kicking terrorism’s ass, and I’m going to kick the future’s ass. Also, we’re going to Mars… I’ve got it all under control.
In truth, however, everything the president said last night has already been said before and not by any of his predecessors or other politicians.
Indeed, President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address was predicted by none other than Dave Chappelle about 10 years ago.
Chappelle, we knew you were a genius, but we didn’t know you could predict the future.
If you don’t believe me, watch the clip below which fuses Obama’s speech last night with an episode of “Chappelle’s Show” from April 2004.
Comedians are debatably the most under-appreciated political and social commentators around, and Chappelle offers even more proof of that. The clip comes from a skit titled “Black Bush,” in which Chappelle offers a hyperbolic and cultural twist on the presidency of George W. Bush.
Not only was it hilarious, it was a premonition.
Dave Chappelle for president? If he does end up running, he already has the perfect campaign slogan:
We’ve already seen what might be John Kerry’s most ludicrous remark about Russia yet. Earlier today, he made more of his thoughts known on Twitter, which is always dangerous.
