In President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union speech he identified a number of issues that he apparently believed would appeal to Main Street small business owners. Alas, for the most part, his list merely revealed how out of touch he is with the challenges America’s small firms are facing today. Here are two of those points followed by my explanation of why the president needs better advisors when it comes to talking with small business owners.

$30 billion for community banks to loan to small business: On its face, this sound great, but as I have reported for almost two years, community banks don’t have a cash-for-loans problem; they have plenty of cash already and don’t want money - or the associated hassle - from the government. Nor do independent banks need more incentive to make small business loans. The overarching small business credit problem is not supply, but rather, demand. The condition of the economy is resulting in very little loan demand by small businesses. Wise up, Mr. President.

Eliminate capital gains for small business: It wouldn’t take a long conversation with any small business owner to discover that capital gains tax is their absolute least challenge as it virtually NEVER comes into play in the operation of their business, and any jobs creation as a result would be impossible to measure. In the list of the top 20 things that wake a small business owner up at night, capital gains tax wouldn’t appear. Mr. President, this is embarrassing.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked in greater detail about these and other issues in my small business response to President Obama’s state of the union speech. Take a few minutes to listen and let me know your thoughts on Obama’s plan for helping small businesses. Listen Live! Download, Too!