Fate of the Union
I’ll preface this by saying, rarely do I sit through the entirety of the State of the Union Address. Normally I usually watch on until about 37 minutes in, then give up on the soupy mess of gratuitous Americana, and political double-speak for something slightly more believable. And while I don’t think Obama’s speech will go down in history as one of his presidency’s most notorious moments, I think that it can be an archetype of what these addresses should have been and should be in the future. Direct, confrontational, and confident with a little line thrown in there about World Domination. For a brief second I got a little worried when Barack rested heavily on the fact that when he got into office things were already terrible; he seemed to be initially on the defensive before saying that basically, there really is no one to blame but ourselves. While no one likes to hear excuses for the lame duck presidency that’s endured over the past year, I off feeling as though change is imminent. The juggernaut of reform we had hoped was going to start the first 100 days of his office has finally been set in motion—assuming the congress lets him pass anything.
I especially liked the awkward 10 second camera pan to the Supreme Court Justices when Obama brought up the recent repeal of limits on corporate campaign donations, perhaps the most convivial ‘Fuck you’ a president can give on national television. In both acknowledging the bipartisanship that threatens to stall any major political advancement in the couple of years, Barry told us to grow up, stop pointing fingers, and winning just for the sake of winning. He chided both the House and the Senate, both democrats and Republicans for forgetting the will of the people in favor of small personal victories at the expense of the other party. “Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.”* I assume what he really meant to say was “Democrats why don’t you grow a spine and start acting like a Majority, and republicans, are you really going to use the Super Majority minus - 1 seat as an excuse to phillabuster every bill?”
While the crises at large may seem less dire, stagnancy in the legislative branch will do no good. Obama called for movement on health care, a subject that when broached left an audible silence throughout the house. Though he outlined no formal details he called on both parties to extend their hands across the aisle and come to compromise. All in all, his speech reignited that hopeful spirit that left people smiling the day after he was elected into office. Pointing out his successes acknowledging failure, and primarily laying out the groundwork for the reinvigoration of the nation, I turned off BET feeling satisfied and dare I say excited that things might actually begin to change.
Other important Notes/ questions:
AND A VIEW FROM THE OTHER LESS PRAISING SIDE: BY ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
—Those generals did not look happy about “Letting the ‘gays’ in”
—Michelle Obama hates fat people
— He’s going to get burned for only spening like 9 min on forgien policy.. middle america loves that shit.
—JOBS JOBS JOBS
—Deficit of trust
— Make a transparent government
—Where were his children?
—Was there an escape tunnel under his podium… just in case…
—More about this freeze on domestic spending please…what does it mean
—Bonus points for dropping Iron Maiden lyrics ” run to the hills”**
—The speech was truly standing on a Big Government Democratic platform, and while republicans are whining that he didn’t put enough emphasis on finding real common ground between the parties, I can’t say it really bothers me, as deep down I’m a big government girl as long as its transparent, and like he said in his speech, the democrats should start acting as a majority.
yesum.
