New Britain, CT – Republican Chairman Chris Healy released the following statement in response to President Barack Obama’s First State of the Union Address:

“After his agenda took a stunning defeat in Massachusetts, President Barack Obama claims he finally gets the message and has opted to join the American people in their anger.  What he fails to understand is that the frustration stems directly from the leftward agenda he has tried to push through Congress despite the overwhelming protests of voters.  They’re furious because the Obama Administration promised that his so-called $787 billion economic stimulus experiment would keep employment under eight percent, but today the national unemployment rate is ten percent and Connecticut has lost nearly 37,000 jobs since Obama took office.  They’re irate because rather than focusing on getting America back to work, his Administration has consistently tried to use the economic crisis as a means to pass his expensive liberal agenda of cap-and-trade, government-run health care, and unsustainable budgets.

“It is clear that the President and his Democratic allies are playing politics, hoping that voters will have forgotten the billions of dollars that have been spent over the past year.  The Obama Administration has put American prosperity at risk dropping the ball on national security, adding $9.1 Trillion to our national debt over the next decade and jeopardizing the world’s best healthcare system for the sake of more government control.”

“Republican victories in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts have shown that President Obama has no coattails; three states that the President won in the fall of 2008 and lost in 2009 and 2010.  Chris Dodd saw the writing on the wall and decided to retire. Sending another Democrat like Dick Blumenthal to Washington will only lead to more government takeovers, weakened national security policy and Connecticut voters deserve better.”