State of the Union - no fresh air allowed.

The State of the Union address delivered to Congress by President Barack Obama tonight is going to a sad, sad exercise. The president has become a dreary man, blaming his failures on others and taking the successes of others as his own work.

The SOTU is a window into the hall of mirrors also known as Obama's mind. In his mind, the economy is at the same time recovering because of his policies and faltering because of the Republicans meager attempts to rein in spending, taxes and regulations.

Beyond our shores, Obama describes an Al Qaeda on the run and the Al Qaeda in Iraq, the new owner-operator of Fallujah, as junior varsity terrorists. Yet, because of the extreme danger posed by terrorists, Americans must accept warrantless surveillance–of everything, everywhere.

The Obama administration warns Americans about going to the Winter Olympics in Russia, while it was the Russians who ID'd the Boston Marathon bombers to us–whom the FBI then interviewed three times before losing track of them before the race.

Of course, it is beyond our shores to Syria, Libya and a dozen countries in Africa that the president shipped firearms and ammunition to help his friends there defend themselves, their families and their farms and businesses. In this country, the one that Obama was elected lead, the president seeks to disarm Americans.

Background checks, and all the other "responsible" regulations Obama proposes, including outright bans of military-style long guns, are all gussied up as part of the president's reverence for the Second Amendment.

The good news is that the stooge over the president's shoulder, no, the other one: Vice-President Joseph R. Biden Jr., will not succeed his boss. "Sheriff Joe" was banking on exploiting the horrors of different spree-shootings, but it turns out that even supporters of gun rights can catch a break.

Neil McCabe