January 21, 2015
Who reads a column called "A meaningless State of the Union" that begins "Why bother with the State of the Union?"
Here it is, by Jennifer Rubin. I'm just pointing at it because the headline captured my attitude, and the SOTU happened, and I wanted to commemorate the event somehow. Did I listen to the speech? I'm not sure. It was on, and I was near the television. I had my iPad out and was looking at random things, nothing nearly as focused as the Twitter feed on the SOTU. Beside me was my husband Meade, and we talked now and then, sometimes about the speech. I remember saying: "He's yelling... Why is he yelling?... He keeps yelling...." Meade turned down the volume. I got sleepy but I stayed up because I wanted to see Joni Ernst. When she came on, Meade said something about her hair that made me say: "Just think of it as a hat and it looks fine." And we talked about how old she is in connection with the question whether it's possible that she was named after Joni Mitchell. So did I watch the SOTU? Posing the question for myself this morning, I see why I was drawn to the headline "A meaningless State of the Union."
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From the article, and I think the phrases say it all:
if you were looking for memorable lines, there weren’t any. If you were looking for signs the president learned anything from his 2014 thumping, you were disappointed. If you had hopes he had a coherent foreign policy they were dashed. If you expected the president to double down and emphasize areas where impasse is certain you were prescient. And the speech was still too long.
More than an hour long. Gaack.
The best part of last night's speech was Michelle Obama's suit. Was she sending a not so subliminal message? Is she "The Good Wife". too? It's hard to believe with all of the people being paid to dress her one of them didn't know that was a signature suit from the show.
I don't bother watching, as Obama includes in each SOTU speech a lie: "The State of the Union is strong."
Given such brazen mendacity, why listen to anything else he has to say?
Did I listen to the speech? I'm not sure.
Seems like you got the gist of it.
Sounded like a celebration of the lying skills of the Great Obama I.
But even MSNBC was noting the lack of reality behind the Obama Reality narratives.
The damage that Obama has done is stealthly and craftily embeded in the destruction of Education and honest Science as we knew it.
The only reason to watch would be to pick apart and list all the devices he uses: strawmen, false choices, etc.
But, isn't that Althouse's job?
Plus, barf.
Ted Cruz messing up and starting again in the loudest entry chamber of the Capitol (love the legs!) was the clip of the night.
The late night shows are going to love that one. Rubio still got a joke about being thirsty on the Daily Show last week, Ted Cruz needing to start a second time (and the low for YouTube quality standards) is going to be laughed at for quite a long while.
During parts of the speech, I was ensured that we have higher graduation rates than ever.
Then I was told it was of dire importance that we make community college free so that we could pick up our flagging graduation rates.
In general, it felt like different people wrote different parts of the speech, and never checked with each other.
Hint: I listened to the speech. I probably listened a lot closer than the president did.
The best part of last night's speech was Michelle Obama's suit. Was she sending a not so subliminal message? Is she "The Good Wife". too? It's hard to believe with all of the people being paid to dress her one of them didn't know that was a signature suit from the show.
What makes it an even odder choice is Jake Tapper's recent comment that the Administration had better representation on "The Good Wife" than in Paris.
Seems like a message in there, somewhere.
It's become positively insipid.
Congress should stop inviting the President for this spectacle, and if invited, the President should decline to go.
Back before the bankruptcy (my husband saw the handwriting on the wall), we owned GM stock. (Dad, we think, took a major bath, but that's another story.) And we would get the annual report: every year, reporting on how this was the year that everything was turning around.
Of course, if you want to make sound investment decisions, you read the financials themselves.
I have an old book with the text of State of Union messages going back into the 19th Century. (They delivered it in writing then. The best aspect of that was that Congress did not have occasion to act like a pack of trained barking seals.)
In those days they actually reported on the state of the Union. Stuff that was not political but still important. Failures as well as successes. Unfinished business. Now it's a disgusting spectacle. I don't know how you could even stand to be in the same room with it.
"But, isn't that Althouse's job?"
My self-appointed mission is to find texts that are bloggable according to my intuition and to say things about them that go in at some interesting angle.
In this case, the headline called out to me as the text to be blogged.
Go back to the pre-Wilson days of submitting the SOTU in written form. It had a constitutional purpose--an annual update to Congress from the president, which originally probably made more sense because Congress had shorter sessions and news was probably harder to come by in the old days. But today it's nothing more than a multi-hour bit of free propaganda for whoever the president is, and serves no useful purpose.
I didn't watch all of it. I watched the coverage afterward on CNN, where he was celebrated for being "defiant" and "reinvigorated". I couldn't help but think George W Bush would have been called "out of touch" and "in denial".
It's always more instructive to see how his words will be spun/praised by the press than to actually hear him speak. The impact on our nation is greater.
"They delivered it in writing then. The best aspect of that was that Congress did not have occasion to act like a pack of trained barking seals."
I loathe the sound of clapping. As the post shows, the yelling tone of Obama's voice annoyed me, but the constant clapping is horrible. It makes the whole thing feel so political, and the other party has to just sit through it politely. Just terrible.
I mean, I hate to hear clapping so much that I have problems with recordings that I want to listen to that keep the audience reaction in the mix. I have audiobooks, for example, by David Sedaris that have some of the stories read not in the usual audiobook way but with an audience. This makes the whole book less valuable to me because I know the gentle voice is going to be disrupted by ugly noise.
So I'm not just talking about the partisan nature of the clapping.
(Blogger autocorrected "Sedaris" to "Seders"!)
Althouse- do you have that head thing where you get a flurry in your noggin when you hear soft whispers?
That was via TV like a Nuremberg Rally without the 10,000 Swazticas.
"I’ve run my last campaign,” Obama said, and then added, “I know because I won both of them.”
An asshole.
And a dangerous one.
File under: "Prick, Self-Centered"
$2 gas and rising approval ratings.
Be careful what you wish for.
Ernst is 44, so she's young enough to be named after Joni Mitchell. I can't find out if she was from the Internet.
Unlike Chelsea Clinton, Ernst was born during Mitchell's prime.
I wonder what her position on DDT is.
Somehow Obama has managed to rack up a lot of AF1 time fundraising, for a guy who has finished campaigning.
Has anyone told him George W Bush also won the presidency twice?
"$2 gas and rising approval ratings.
Be careful what you wish for."
Well, we know what Obama wished for. I got one and he got one. Tied.
Joni Mitchell has a mental illness that causes her to think invisible bugs are boring into her skin.
This bothered me:
"Mr. Obama issued a broad call for 'a better politics' that began with common principles, and said his agenda isn’t political, pointing out 'I have no more campaigns to run.'
That drew rousing applause from the GOP side of the aisle, which had sat on its hands as Mr. Obama had ticked off partisan proposals he wanted to see, and threatened vetoes of bipartisan bills Republicans are trying to pass.
The applause was too much for Mr. Obama, who punctuated his declaration that his campaigns are over by saying, 'I know, because I won both of them.'"
Do we elect children to our national government? My Republicans were out of line applauding, but Obama's response was out and out childish and petulant. Shame on Republicans who fell into Obama's trap, and more shame to the man-child this country foolishly elected thinking he was at least a grown up.
Like I said, what if they gave a SOTU and nobody came?
Cause all Obama did was say, 'let's be nice and civil you son-of-a-bitches'.
He took credit for anything and everything.
Geeze what a narcissist.
Obama: "Yes, I'm the Great One we've been waiting for. And I want to spend some more! ... middle class FREE tuition! Tax the rich, feed the poor, until we're all just poor, forever more.
My Republicans were out of line applauding
Are you sure they weren't laughing at the idea that the man is no longer campaigning?
I think they were.
Hey Mark, that's a brilliant analysis. I look forward to anything else you have to offer.
obert Cook said...
I don't bother watching, as Obama includes in each SOTU speech a lie: "The State of the Union is strong."
Given such brazen mendacity, why listen to anything else he has to say?
1/21/15, 9:54 AM
Folks here is confirmation that a broken clock is right twice a day.
As for myself, I watched a movie. Why waste time on watching Obama lie to me and insult me in the process? I leave it to the masochists to watch this bad political theater.
On the up side, he was actually on time [well, I think within the five minute window generally given to people to be "on-time."]
I neither watched it nor listened to it and I don't plan to read it, either. I am very annoyed that my Facebook and Twitter feeds were clogged up by my professional organizations' cyber-clapping for it. Ugh. Idiots. Don't they know politicians are not our friends?
"Just think of it as a hat and it looks fine."
LOL! It's a snap-on coiffure.
It's a meaningless "State of the Union" because the "Union" does not exist. It was Usuurped by the illegal putative POTUS, Hussein Obama (born a British subject, thus not a natural born Citizen).
When there is no legal "executor of the laws" then there is no law, and no "Republic", as the law is only what evil greedy men say it is.
Amazingly, a "Con Law Prof" even voted for a non natural born Citizen!!
AReasonableMan said...
$2 gas and rising approval ratings.
Be careful what you wish for.
Delivered a day late and a dollar short.
Did not watch. I've gotten to where it just makes me physically ill to listen to him give a speech.
Robert Cook: "'The State of the Union is strong.' Given such brazen mendacity..."
It's boilerplate, motherhood and apple pie, that is in every SOTU speech.
Trivia question: In how many past SOTU speeches did the President admit that the state of the Union was poor?
Bush 43, 2002: "As we gather tonight, our Nation is at war; our economy is in recession; and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet, the state of our Union has never been stronger."
Clinton, 1996: "The state of the Union is strong."
Bush 41, 1990: " so long as we remember the American idea, so long as we live up to the American ideal, the state of the Union will remain sound and strong. "
There may be an indirect Joni Mitchell influence but Joni is a Swedish name, and Joni Ernst is from the Swedish Triangle of Stanton, Red Oak, and Essex, Iowa.
Essex being the headquarters of heartland.net, that makes her the quintessential Heartland Senator.
Here's my favorite Joni Ernst exposé from the Huffington Post:
"The reports fail to list Ernst's industrial property in Red Oak, Iowa, which had an assessed value last year of $54,830. The property generated at least $1,200 in income for Ernst in 2013, according to Ernst's campaign."
I'd just as soon have a prostate exam by someone with severe hangnails as listen to any Obama speech. For the record, it has been a very long time since I listened to any State of the Union speech.
"Althouse- do you have that head thing where you get a flurry in your noggin when you hear soft whispers?"
I know what you are talking about.
Answer: No.
I just don't like noise and am sensitive about what constitutes noise.
This political junkie hasn't listened to a word of a State of the Union speech in at least 30 years.
No reason to. Always something better to do, like sort my sock drawer or clean the grease trap.
SOTU is more appropriately named STFU.
Funny, we watched Joni's speech having spent BH0's watching a Brit comic mystery (Hustle).
The first comment I made was "she used a lot of hair spray".
I just don't like noise and am sensitive about what constitutes noise
I am also sensitive to noise, especially repetitive noises. I'm also sensitive to the noises coming out of politicians' mouths.
"Das Gloat"
#LiberalWarMovies
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