Unfortunately, too many conservatives give the president credit he doesn’t deserve regarding his State of the Union agenda.

Senator Ted Cruz, House leaders Steve Scalise and Jeb Hensarling, have all suggested that Obama has “doubled down” on his agenda. The blackjack definition for “doubling down” is to “hold your existing cards while doubling your existing bet with only one more card.”

But in his State of the Union, Obama requested virtually all new cards, raising issues he and his party never mentioned in the recent campaign:

• A tax hike of $320 billion?
• A big new entitlement of free community college for those with C averages?

These are brand new initiatives, not part of the debate in 2014. Even his much-discussed executive amnesty for immigrants remained under wraps until after voting, so Americans in key Senatorial races couldn’t express disapproval.

“Doubling down” suggests consistency and confidence, but Obama is asking for a whole new deck to erase an election his party lost decisively.