Going to give this live-blogging thing a try again. It’s been a while but I won’t listen to the speech otherwise for fear it will depress me (see the things I do for you!)
Tonight we are listening to the dulcet tones of Diane Sawyer on ABC (because I don’t have cable and PBS keeps cutting out on me) and her little friend George Stephanopoulos.
Ohh, I like Michelle Obama’s haircut … very sleek, very sharp.
So George S. is telling me that Pelosi, Michelle Obama and Biden are wearing purple to speak to the middle … to be neither red state nor blue state. This makes me think that Robin Givhan’s job is very, very safe. And also that George is an idiot. Diane Sawyer thinks he’s an idiot too.
And the President enters. it’s clearly going to take him about 10 minutes to walk the whole way down. And Diane warns me that he is going to speak for over an hour. Oh dear. I might not last.
How can the Supreme Court even show their faces after their Citizens United ruling last week? For shame, John Roberts. For shame.
Total non-sequitor … the Democrats side is all multi-coloured with the women’s dresses. The Republican’s side is a sea of black suits. Because there are no women on that side. Or if they are, they certianly don’t wear colourful suits.
I would take a shot every time there is applause but my goal is to make it through this speech, not pass out in the middle.
Starting with a little bit of a history lesson … about the coming together of America in times of trouble and testing.
Oh snap! And he nicely places the blame on Bush for the state of the union a year ago. Things are bad now he says but boy, they were really bad before.
America’s families. Drink!
Shout out to Elkhart. Which didn’t vote for him and won’t vote for him so it was nice of him to mention it anyway.
Nice of him to talk about failure being rewarded on Wall Street when his own Treasury Secretary won’t do anything about the billions in bank bonuses being given out this year.
Applause. Drink! Because he is hopeful. Which is good because not very many other people are. Which is another reason to drink.
We need a government that matches our decency. Maybe. Although I would rather have a government that got some shit done than was just a nice government.
And again, nice poke at Bush. It was his administration after all that bailed out the banks. And who can argue with Obama that if they can afford bonuses now, the banks can freaking cough up some money to pay back the Treasury.
Another total aside: boy, it’s nice to see a smiling, engaged vice president sitting behind instead of the glowering Dark Lord of Evil.
Oh, and he’s poking fun of the Republicans. Look at Eric Cantor look confused. Look at John Boehner be annoyed (and he glows in the dark!)
Hey, a proposal everyone likes. No tax breaks for outsourcing.
[phone rings ... taking a break already]
Don’t know what I missed but I’m sure it was something about building America … there was lots and lots of applause though.
Oh a proposal everyone likes … no tax breaks for out sourcing companies. Who can disagree with that?
America’s families. Drink!
This is maybe the third time he’s mentioned China. It’s pretty clear who we are competing with on the playing field of the world economy.
And about the sixteenth time he’s mentioned energy. It’s pretty clear which sector he thinks our growth as a country is going to come from. Opening the offshore to drilling, ‘clean coal’ technologies, all the pretty nonsensical buzzwords.
And another poke at the Republicans. Essentially saying only stupid people don’t believe in science. Which is true. But sort of mean and it’s why they booed.
I don’t know how many State of the Union addresses I’ve know heard in my life. But I swear that every single one of them talked about how important education was. Training for adults, emphasis on math and science, etc et al. And has it helped. Apparently not since we keep talking about it every single time.
So why would the Republicans not like the idea of a $10,000 tax credit for college tuition? Am I missing something?
Middle-class families. Drink twice!
Oh, now he is going to talk to us like an adult about health care. A little humor, some touching stories, a shout out to Michelle. For god’s sake, he says, why would you not pass this freaking bill already!? Find a way to make it work, he says. If you’ve got anything better, bring it on, he says. But just get it done.
And again, putting the blame nicely on Bush. You are all worried about the deficit but maybe you should have thought about that 8 years ago or so. Wasn’t my fault that I inherited a steaming pile of shit.
And again about that spending freeze. And again I’ll say, why not look at defense spending. What can it hurt?
He uses his executive order to override the Senate on some bipartisan committee? Really? There isn’t anything else he can use that executive order for?
Oh, and he just spanks the Supreme Court. Well, good for him! They deserve it.
Damn, I missed it. Something about websites so I can see how government is spending our money. Was it good? Lots of people stood up to clap.
And we are now at an hour. And he hasn’t even started talking about Afghanistan.
He doesn’t like the filibuster. Which could be seen as a spanking of the Republicans but really, I think it’s a spanking of Joe Lieberman (aka He Who Must Not Be Named).
Never mind. He’s spanking the Republicans. Probably the best part of the speech. Saying no is not the same as leadership; if you insist on 60 votes, then the role of governing now falls equally on you.
And again with the “now I’m going to talk to you like I am the parent and you are the child” except this time it’s about security. And with that, we finally enter the foreign policy section of the speech. Which isn’t really about foreign policy but really just about Afghanistan. Because that’s really all our foreign policy is right now. Because Iraq is on its own. It’s your country now bitches!
Nothing is more bipartisan than invoking both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Geez. That was just pandering, man. Even if it was about nuclear disarmament.
Well, OK. Maybe our foreign policy also includes isolating Iran and North Korea. My bad.
Unity in our incredile diversity. Nice words. Which segues nicely into the civil rights area. Will he mention DADT?
And that’s a yes!
Although he is just going to work with Congress on repealing it. Not actually repeal it himself. Which he could do. If he really wanted.
And again, we all Americans. Americans who don’t believe in our institutions anymore. And that’s partly your fault Congress. And also mainstream media. And corporations.
And even though I said we could believe in change, that doesn’t mean change will happen. And again, that’s your fault. You hate America, don’t you.
He needs to wrap up. I’m fading. And I’m beginning not to care about America’s children and grandchildren.
American families. Drink!
I think Patrick Kennedy is crying. Is he crying? There’s no crying in politics!
And there it is. We are all Americans. We can do it. Just do it America. Rock on and God bless.
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