Listening (with only one ear) to our young President’s rambling address today, typically full of high-minded but unrealistic rhetoric, several things were readily apparent:

Barack Obama loves the sound of his own voice.

He thinks he is still on the campaign trail, even though the reality of being a president and no longer a candidate has beaten him up and caused him to back-track on his promises numerous times.

He is quite adept at thrashing the Bush administration while at the same time either maintaining some of the same policies he blasted Bush for during the campaign, or in keeping his options open to do so at a later date.

He doesn’t know the name of his Secretary of Defense, even with a teleprompter.

He sites the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as if they actually mean something to him.

He said today that “fidelity to our values is the reason why the United States of America grew from a small string of colonies under the writ of an empire to the strongest nation in the world,” even as he implements plans to undo all the good things that the Founders did in establishing the foundation for the strongest nation in the world.

He said, “I know some have argued that brutal methods like waterboarding were necessary to keep us safe. I could not disagree more. As Commander-in-Chief, I see the intelligence. I bear the responsibility for keeping this country safe. And I categorically reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation.” Apparently, as Commander-in-Chief, he has not seen the evidence that these techniques produced results that saved lives and protected the nation.

He says from his lofty perch that these methods are beneath the United States, that saving the lives of his people is less important than hewing to an ideal. Wanna bet he’d water-board anyone and everyone he thought could give him the information he needs to save his children’s lives?

He lambastes the Bush administration for developing policies that he claims deprived them of their civil rights, even as he asks for permission to have people placed in “preventive detention” if they are deemed a possible threat (whatever that means).

Can you say “duplicitous?”