State of the Union and Response Post- Blog
on January 29th, 2010 at 10:14 AMNot much I can say about Barack Obama‘s State of the Union. I thought it was very unprofessional. From lecturing Republicans, to rallying Democrats, to calling the Supreme Court stupid, I don’t think he outlined many legislative priorities. Also considering that he’s trying to ram healthcare down my throat, I would have liked to see him talk in much more detail about healthcare. But oh well.
Now, on to Bob McDonnell, who gave an excellent speech. For those who still need to see it, below is the video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeSLVnAQSYo&feature=player_embedded]
It seemed to get pretty good reviews. However, some Democrats made some ridiculous attacks. See below from Daily Kos:
And the teabagging, bipartisan response in front of an all GOP audience is over. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell had a “black woman”, “asian guy”, and “military guy” behind him. The seating chart for this thing must have been six months in the making.
I can’t even believe that Democrats are playing the race card. After Obama’s state of the union, Chris Matthews said “I forgot that he was black,” and especially after Harry Reid’s slip up, you think that Democrats would be more racially sensitive. In any event, I’m glad Republicans responded quickly. See below from bearing drift.
Actually, the “black woman” is McDonnell’s Secretary of Administration, Lisa Hicks-Thomas. The “Asian guy” is Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng. The “military guy” is Staff Sargeant Robert Tenpenny, who served with Jeanine McDonnell in Iraq. And, for good measure, in the lower right, is Secretary of the Commonwealth Janet Polarek.
Also, did you hear, Democrats attacked Bob McDonnell for taking time from his duties to give a partisan response? Weird that they would attack us for being partisan, as both Jim Webb and Tim Kaine have given partisan responses, and that Tim Kaine has been busy being a DNC Chairman.
Complete Hypocrites. Let’s defeat this arrogance in 2010!
LECTURER IN CHIEF
As a professional speechwriter, I felt the President delivered more of a convention speech than a State of the Union address – perhaps because the speech was framed more as the “state of Obama.” How many times did he use the word “I”?
The speechwriters missed an obvious opportunity to draw everyone together at the onset by burying the short reference to Haiti in the second hour of the speech, rather than leading with this emotional and unifying symbol of American compassion.
Structurally, the speech was long – witness the Vice President glancing at his watch. Of course, verbosity could be forgiven had tonight’s State of the Union been Clintonesque in eloquence as well as length. Instead, the speech seemed over-rehearsed, and failed to soar or inspire.
Is this the Barrack Obama who only a year ago was hailed as a great orator? This evening, he not only failed to connect with his audience, he (or his speechwriters) failed to define that audience. Was it the American people, or was it Congress? If the latter, it was an oddly divisive appeal – epitomized in the awkward see-saw spectacle of one side of the Chamber rising to applaud a policy pronouncement, matched by the opposite side marking their approval of the next statement. Even odder was the choice to call out the Supreme Court on national television.
I give the President credit for breaking with the liberal orthodoxy on issues such as building modern nuclear power plants and doubling exports. Contrast that clearly definable goal with the fuzzy math on jobs. Obama’s declaration that “jobs must be our #1 focus in 2010” failed to answer the question on the minds of so many under- and unemployed Americans. Why were jobs not our #1 focus in 2009? And is a pledge to add 1.5 million jobs by the end of the year after losing 7 million truly progress?
A pre-speech commentary on WTOP said President Obama would be challenged to use his “considerable oratorical skills” to persuade the American people that he was focused on the economy. Sadly, the disconnect remained. In an atmosphere overlaid with this hearty/healthy layer of skepticism (fool me once…), the President delivered yet another bloodless, sanctimonious speech. At least the teleprompter functioned.