State of the Union and Obama's Sputnik Moment

Truth be told, I was only able to tune in for the last 10 minutes or so of the President' State of the Union Address, so I'm not sure what the two of them had in common besides crashing and burning in Wisconsin.

Oh wait....am I not supposed to use language like that in this new epoch of hypercivility?

Well anywhoo, my first response was to the State of the Union was 'My God- He's Still Talking?'. Like I said- I didn't tune in until the final 10 minutes and that only happened because I had assumed the speech was over and done with. And to be perfectly honest, I was listening on XM- the final moments of the address was only made tolerable by intermittent commentary from Cam and Company.

Apparently I had missed the first 45 minutes of vapid platitudes, contrived calls for bipartisanship, token nods towards American exceptionalism and contradictions galore. Since this was radio, I didn't get to actually see the 'high school dance' mentality of the Republican congressmen and senator mingling with their Democrat counterparts. Probably just as well, as that was a pretty stupid and pointless exercise. If the final 10 minutes were any indication, the speech seemed to be more about crowing about what the highly unpopular lame duck Congress was able to cram through last month than learning anything from the election results in November. The president also seemed to be taking credit for this month's referendum in South Sudan, which in fact was a key component of a 2005 ceasefire brokered by the USA. C'mon, progressives and Democrats...think back to 2005 when we had an unemployment rate that maxed out at 5.4%- who was in the White House again?

There were no huge surprises after the speech- Congressman Paul Ryan (R- WI, 1st District) delivered a pretty good rebuttal regarding the size and scope of government. President Obama's insipid media cheerleaders- many of whom he met with for lunch before the State of the Union- thought this was the greatest speech since Churchill while FOX news and the AP were skeptical.

It's one thing for me to be skeptical of the President, because I had no interest in sitting through what amounted to a 1 hour and 10 minute sales pitch for something I didn't want but was probably going to wind up with anyway. I'm just wondering how many independents or undecideds saw what I saw last night- teleprompter fuelled status quo.

What did you think?

State of the Union- Not Another New England Sports Blog's Highly Anticipated Reaction

Well, first and foremost, I posted yesterday that last night's State of the Union address was an opportunity for Obama to demonstrate what he's learned since the stunning Republican victory in Massachusetts last week. Apparently the answer was a resounding 'not a damn thing'.

Now, granted I came in and out of the speech- partly because it was being broadcast on my way home from work and partly because prolonged exposure to the sound of President Obama's voice could send me into a frothing, near-homicidal berserker frenzy. From what little I did catch, it sounded like he was trying to take credit for all those 'jobs saved', which is far more speculative and difficult to track than the very real and still-rising national unemployment rate. The most telling thing I heard last night was his willingness to try and cram through Cap and Trade.....which was followed by what sounded like hoots and guffaws when he mentioned the 'overwhelming scientific evidence' of global warming or climate change or whatever the latest spin is these days. Also, he doesn't seem willing to give up the fight over healthcare just because we the people who ultimately have to pay for it can't see what a brilliant idea it is or something.

I swear, if the Obama Administration drafted legislation that required every American regardless of age, gender or race had to get up at 4 in the morning and repeatedly smack themselves in the face with a ball-peen hammer and the Republicans wanted to block it, I remain convinced the Dem strategists would be on CNN and MSNBC shrieking their usual 'GOP is the party of No!' talking points at the top of their hysterical little lungs instead of discussing the merits of...well...getting up at 4 in the morning and repeatedly smashing oneself in the face with a ball-peen hammer [Think of all the hammer manufacturers that will be put out of work! -NANESB!]. Umm...here's a thought. Maybe the GOP is obstructing passage of some of this legislation because it's really REALLY bad. Seriously, can anybody name me the upside of Card Check, Cap and Trade or a second stimulus?

Come to think of it, it's the Democrats who had, until last week, a seemingly unassailable supermajority in both houses where they could've hypothetically passed whatever they desired. To effectively block that would mean that a good number of Democrats would be in direct opposition to President Obama's agenda as well. Hmm....wonder how come that little factoid doesn't get much play on CNN or MSNBC?

So I'm not sure what I could've taken away from what sounded like yet another vacuous and lengthy campaign speech from the President. Did he even mention national security or terrorism last night? Giving foreign nationals detained by foreign intelligence or security services on foreign soil (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, pick up the white courtesey phone) the same Constitutional rights as a 12 year old busted for stealing a pack of Yu-Gu-Oh cards from Wal Mart doesn't exactly smack of "tough on terrorism" to me.

Frankly, his taking more than a year to address the jobs situation and willingness to revisit cap and trade was about all I needed to hear.

More of the same, none of it good no matter how enthusiastic the spin.