Tag Archives: State of the Union Speech

The State of the Union address was a campaign speech. I knew it would be so I was not compelled to respond with an immediate salvo of criticism. The President struck an uncharacteristic and populous tone with much of the usual lofty rhetoric short on facts and substance. He was content to frame his argument in the form of questions most would answer “of course” too, but as usual left out key components of the debate which make that answer wholly inadequate. For instance, his rhetoric on taxes was particularly amusing considering the facts. But it sure sounded good in the context of his overall approach to the speech. Obviously, class warfare and the politics of division will be the Presidents weapons of choice this campaign cycle, and he made it very clear Tuesday evening he would not hesitate to use those weapons at every possible juncture.

Not unlike the Liberal playbook of old, Mr. Obama will put all of his marbles on the notion that most folks won’t fact check his assertions and that emotion will drive the vote. That may in fact work against him this time. There seems to be an equal amount of emotion with folks looking very carefully at his record. And running on a record is very different from running on simply “hope and change”.

In the end I found the speech to be no different from other SOTU’s from Presidents on both sides of the aisle. Lofty rhetoric with little substance and boat loads of political satire, are usually the jumping off points for politicians running for re-election.

I did take exception with one thing he mentioned regarding to the “Situation Room”. I think this POTUS has to some degree “declassified” the office of President. There are just things better left off the table as a matter of respect for the high office. Americans want there to be a kind of hands off notion about the President when he acts on our behalf militarily. We don’t necessarily need to know the gory details. Just the fact he is doing his Constitutional duty to protect the nation will do. With the precisely timed release of the first S/R photos taken as “Operation Neptune Spear” unfolded, it was clear this Administration meant to capitalize in every way they could when President Obama carried out President Bush’s standing executive order to neutralize Osama bin-Laden. I think the fact he flew that flag again Tuesday night was regrettable. It wasn’t he or Bush who killed the terrorist leader but rather Seal Team Six, and I feel their role is diminished when the Commander-in-Chief attempts to emphasize his part by way of dramatizing what goes on behind the closed doors of a clandestine military operation. It just seems to trivialize a truly heroic and significant moment in our nation’s history.

With that said, I will not expand beyond these few observations, as it will ultimately be the collective Electorate who will decide if the POTUS was grandstanding, campaigning or if he was truly sincere beyond the politics of the moment.