Sen. Ron Johnson told Charlie Sykes Wednesday that President Obama’s final State of the Union address denied reality when it came to national security threats and the insolvency of American entitlement programs.

“It was actually pretty puzzling,” said Johnson in response to a question about his initial reaction to the speech. “President Obama took an hour and was pretty well preaching to us, saying if you only behaved as honorably as I do everything would just be coming up roses.”

On national security, Johnson suggested that Obama’s strategy has failed and the world is becoming increasingly dangerous.

“He’s trying to downplay the threat; denying reality,” said Johnson. “I think the world is a more dangerous place and a lot has to do with President Obama’s strategy of peace through withdrawal. This was a miserable failure.”

President Obama’s State of the Union occurred with the backdrop of 10 U.S. servicemembers held by Iran, since released in the hours after the speech. Johnson said the Iran nuclear agreement touted by the administration has only engendered worse behavior from the Islamic Republic.

Johnson also criticized the president for denying reality on the sustainability of American entitlement programs, namely Social Security.

“We need to save Social Security. We need to protect it. But you’re not going to do that by expanding it. We’ve got to figure out what we can do to protect the benefits that we already promised that we can’t pay for,” said Johnson.

One ray of hope Johnson saw was the president’s call for regulatory reform. Johnson said he hopes Congress can come to a bipartisan consensus to update and streamline regulations so they don’t hamper American business and industry.

http://www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/Sen-Ron-Johnson–365149651.html