What relevance does the State of the Union Address have any more? It’s just more political theater in which everyone cheers for their guy and (mostly) resists booing the others’ guy. It’s a chance to see how good a president is at telling lies with a straight face as they take credit for everything good that’s happened and distance themselves from, or blame the other side for, everything bad. It’s just another piece of performance art to convince us our politicians are really, really trying hard to make things better, while all the while they intend to start in again the next day doing the same old things.
I’m beginning to understand now why my dad always yelled at the TV set.
I always love the carefully-worded statements implying how “I’m in favor of warm hugs, puppies, and cocoa before bedtime, and if it were up to me we’d all have those, but my opposition keep getting in the way because they obviously hate puppies, hugs, and cocoa! It’s as if they’re totally oblivious–or rather expect us to be totally oblivious–to the fact that the trouble is not necessarily that the sides disagree over the result, but rather disagree over the means of getting to that result. Seriously, do they really expect us to believe that the other party is opposed to a strong economy?
In short, the SotU Address is the yearly event in which our political class attempts to get away with calling us stupid to our faces. They bury us in red tape and tell us its a ticker-tape parade in our honor.
For all the hype, the feel-good lines, and the vague, glowy promises, the only truth that came out last night was when President Obama stated that he isn’t running for office any more and a bunch of Republicans applauded. Obama fired back with something like, “I don’t need to, because I won twice.”
In spite of all the words, this moment revealed the truth about what is going to happen when they all get back to work today: more of the same sniping, name-calling, and childish behavior. I was embarrassed for both sides. That was low-class all the way, both the Republicans who started it and the President for refusing to rise above it. It’s a prime example of why Americans have a low opinion of both the President and the Congress. You could lower them all into a shark tank and they’d spend their last minutes arguing over which side most resembled the sharks and whose blood would be more American.
Is it any wonder why most Americans would probably support that a possible, or at least entertaining, solution?
I kinda have to agree with Antonin Scalia on his opinion of the SOTU, it is a “childish spectacle”. John Roberts offered some slightly more insightful commentary on it, “it has become a ‘political pep rally,’ according to Chief Justice John Roberts (who still attends nonetheless), as the justices are forced to sit calmly while the President and members of government around them cheer and crow about the politics of the moment. “