STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH
THE ORATOR SHINES IN PRIME TIME
By Jay Liner
The President of The United States spoke on Wednesday, delivering a gem of a performance before the Congress, members of the Cabinet, Supreme Court, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and to ordinary folk in front of their high-definition tubes. He was never in better form, and it could be a turning point after a disappointing first year in the Oval Office.He’s still on the ropes with health care reform (and its passage is doubtful), but regardless he sent a message to those who heard the speech. This guy is no doormat, and he will persevere in his beliefs. This is a very resourceful man, and confident that he can begin to grapple with the serious problems that are plaguing the country.
The $64,000 question is whether or not he can get Congress to join in. There is no doubt that the public is skeptical about all of this. It may not be an advantage running as an incumbent for the candidates of either party.
He announced new programs and initiatives pertaining to the economy and producing jobs. This was expected, and the Republicans sat smugly on their asses and displayed scorn with the aplomb that we know and love. Obama went right after them, first with a comedic dispatch over their failure to applaud when he mentioned that no taxes have been levied against any citizen in the country, and later in the speech when he sarcastically had to remind them how the budget process works. He didn’t back off, and took his case to the middle class out in the hinterlands.
The Republicans looked mean and angry, their natural disposition. My favorite tight-ass is mush- mouthed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He looks and acts like he needs an enema at any minute because of his perpetual constipation.
Obama knows what he’s dealing with here, and having taken his lumps lately he’s not going to give the conservatives a sitting target. He put it to both of the parties in Congress for their ineptitude—the Democrats who want to run for the hills and abandon principle, and to the nihilists on the Republican side who want to block any piece of legislation, especially in the Senate. If that’s going to be Congress’ idea of governing, then they will have to own it, and will answer to him and to those who expect and demand change.
The best part of the speech came in the final ten minutes when you could hear a pin drop. No applause interrupted the flow, and he gave the country a civics lesson on what it’s like in Washington politics, and how things need to improve or we’re going to suffer dire consequences. It was poetry mixed with political reality, and he was at his best.
The opposition party had, of course, the opportunity to present their own viewpoint on the State of the Union. Last year, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave an underwhelming response to the President’s speech and was universally dissed and was completely overmatched and amateurish. This year, they chose newly-elected Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell, who spoke from the state house in Richmond with a live crowd in attendance. He’s been in office all of 11 days. I didn’t waste my time watching him after last year’s debacle with Jindal.
Look at the bright side. They could have chosen Sarah Palin or Mark Sanford, and both of whom would have been perfect explaining to us how tax cuts will solve our problems and all we need is to get back to good old-fashioned family values.
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