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Opinion
ENLARGE
Nestled as it is in the middle of the enternainment industry's award season, it's getting to where the president's State of the Union Address is nearly indistinguishable from, say, the Golden Globes or the SAG Awards.
There's plenty of pageantry, of course. The dresses and suits may be more understated at the SOTU, but who you're seen shaking hands with (or, better yet, whispering into the ear of) while the camera's on you says a lot more than how much cleavage you've opted to show. The calculating pol must constantly be on guard to clap or not clap in the right place. One mustn't applaud accidentally at something the president says but which is then followed by some kind of partisan poison.
“This is the greatest nation in the world” the president may begin, to which you, dutiful GOP patriot, must stand and applaud, “and it will be even greater when the full benefits of the Affordable Care Act come into play in 2014.” Here, you must quickly stop clapping, sit down and assume the look of someone's who just bitten into a bad pistachio.
During the Oscars, my wife may sit with her laptop to ID stars on the red carpet, check their age and see what film they're in next. Watching SOTU, I try to match the clapping/scowling pol with his or her last execrable proposal or statement. There should most certainly be awards for the opposition party pol who demonstrates the most dramatic poker face and bad-pistachio expression. This year, my vote goes to that obstructionist creature from Virginia, Rep. Eric Cantor, a man who perhaps has done more to undermine the political process in the House than any other and who couldn't find it in his cast-iron heart to smile or clap at much of anything the president said.
And what did the president say? Not much that's actionable, alas, but so few SOTU addresses amount to much anymore. When Bush did his, I listened and tried to score how much of it all was comprised of lies and half-truths (most of them, it seemed), whereas with Obama's, mostly all I could think of was that all the good things he mentioned wanting to do would ultimately be sabotaged on the altar of GOP obstructionism in the House and the filibuster in the Senate (it matters little that the Dems are in charge there when the filibuster is allowed to be deployed against any and all bills).
Just to highlight a couple of the president's points the GOP will vilify as Kenyan socialism (or whatever):
> Wouldn't it be great if the rest of the US could emulate the armed services and rally around problems to solve them in collective and cooperative fashion?
> A salient reminder that, when Obama took office, the bus was already driving off the cliff. We've got one wheel back on the road, so let's work together to help create more jobs and help those who still can't find one.
> American companies should be encouraged to keep jobs here and dissuaded (if not prohibited) from moving money overseas to avoid taxes. (Hi Mitt!)
> National programs to teach people job skills and lower the cost of gaining a higher education are good things we should pursue.
> Renewable energy is our best hope to create jobs and cleaner energy at the same time — and it remains so despite one high-profile failure and the right's non-stop chorus of “Solyndra Solyndra Solyndra” (to which I would respond “Halliburton — to the 10th power”).
> Pointing out the huge gap between the richest and poorest American is not “class warfare,” nor is it a simple matter of tax rates and tax bills. History is filled with examples of where this kind of discrepancy undermines a nation, and one need only look at the simple graph above to know we're in a major uh-oh moment. The space between the red and blue lines may be the very thing that hands Obama another few chances to issue a SOTU address — especially if Richey Mitt Romney is the nominee.
I don't remember what won the Best Picture last year, nor do I recall what any recent president said at the State of the Union. It was nice to see folks rally around Rep. Gabby Giffords the same way the Oscars' Lifetime Achievement Award will be touching. At the end of the day, though, it doesn't do much toward making better movies — or public policy.
Summit Daily editor Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@summitdaily.com.
There's plenty of pageantry, of course. The dresses and suits may be more understated at the SOTU, but who you're seen shaking hands with (or, better yet, whispering into the ear of) while the camera's on you says a lot more than how much cleavage you've opted to show. The calculating pol must constantly be on guard to clap or not clap in the right place. One mustn't applaud accidentally at something the president says but which is then followed by some kind of partisan poison.
“This is the greatest nation in the world” the president may begin, to which you, dutiful GOP patriot, must stand and applaud, “and it will be even greater when the full benefits of the Affordable Care Act come into play in 2014.” Here, you must quickly stop clapping, sit down and assume the look of someone's who just bitten into a bad pistachio.
During the Oscars, my wife may sit with her laptop to ID stars on the red carpet, check their age and see what film they're in next. Watching SOTU, I try to match the clapping/scowling pol with his or her last execrable proposal or statement. There should most certainly be awards for the opposition party pol who demonstrates the most dramatic poker face and bad-pistachio expression. This year, my vote goes to that obstructionist creature from Virginia, Rep. Eric Cantor, a man who perhaps has done more to undermine the political process in the House than any other and who couldn't find it in his cast-iron heart to smile or clap at much of anything the president said.
And what did the president say? Not much that's actionable, alas, but so few SOTU addresses amount to much anymore. When Bush did his, I listened and tried to score how much of it all was comprised of lies and half-truths (most of them, it seemed), whereas with Obama's, mostly all I could think of was that all the good things he mentioned wanting to do would ultimately be sabotaged on the altar of GOP obstructionism in the House and the filibuster in the Senate (it matters little that the Dems are in charge there when the filibuster is allowed to be deployed against any and all bills).
Just to highlight a couple of the president's points the GOP will vilify as Kenyan socialism (or whatever):
> Wouldn't it be great if the rest of the US could emulate the armed services and rally around problems to solve them in collective and cooperative fashion?
> A salient reminder that, when Obama took office, the bus was already driving off the cliff. We've got one wheel back on the road, so let's work together to help create more jobs and help those who still can't find one.
> American companies should be encouraged to keep jobs here and dissuaded (if not prohibited) from moving money overseas to avoid taxes. (Hi Mitt!)
> National programs to teach people job skills and lower the cost of gaining a higher education are good things we should pursue.
> Renewable energy is our best hope to create jobs and cleaner energy at the same time — and it remains so despite one high-profile failure and the right's non-stop chorus of “Solyndra Solyndra Solyndra” (to which I would respond “Halliburton — to the 10th power”).
> Pointing out the huge gap between the richest and poorest American is not “class warfare,” nor is it a simple matter of tax rates and tax bills. History is filled with examples of where this kind of discrepancy undermines a nation, and one need only look at the simple graph above to know we're in a major uh-oh moment. The space between the red and blue lines may be the very thing that hands Obama another few chances to issue a SOTU address — especially if Richey Mitt Romney is the nominee.
I don't remember what won the Best Picture last year, nor do I recall what any recent president said at the State of the Union. It was nice to see folks rally around Rep. Gabby Giffords the same way the Oscars' Lifetime Achievement Award will be touching. At the end of the day, though, it doesn't do much toward making better movies — or public policy.
Summit Daily editor Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@summitdaily.com.
