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January 12, 2016 06:58 PM UTC

State of the Union Open Thread

  • 9 Comments
  • by: kwtree

Polsters,  this is President Obama’s final State of the Union address. You can watch it live here. on PBS, or here on Huffpost. He is expected to urge Democratic candidates to carry on his policies, and he is expected to critique the hate and fear mongering from the right.

State of the Union, with Ryan dyspepsia.

It’s not known if he will talk about the ten American sailors being held captive in Iran.

The Congressional Black Caucus chose to make a statement by lining the aisles to greet and cheer for the President. Knowing that the right wing already has their talking points tweeting out about “weakness”, “ineffectiveness”, etc, they want to stand up for this President, and what he has managed to get done.

Like a good professor, Obama tells his audience what questions he will answer.

  1. How do we give everyone a shot at opportunity in this new economy?
  2. How do we get technology to work for us and not against us, especially given climate change?
  3. How do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?
  4. How can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?

On the economy, he touts the fact that the American economy is strong, the jobless rate is down. He promotes the free pre-K for all, two free years of community college. He sounds a lot like Bernie Sanders.

Health insurance benefits should be portable, which was the point of the Affordable Care Act. And no, he’s not promoting a single payer program, even with the risk-free lame duck status.  A shame.

On technology, he announces a new National Health Institute research program to cure cancer. Joe Biden is in charge of “getting it done”.

He says that if you still want to debate the science of climate change, “Have at it. But you’ll be pretty lonely.” He’s promoting clean energy tech big time. Good call.

“In fields from Arizona to Texas, wind power is now cheaper than coal.”

“We’ve gotta accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources.”

Wow. It sounds like he’s advocating for a carbon fee. Go Obama.

So on to safety. “These days, we’re threatened less by evil empires, and more by failed states.” Nice.

Um, none of the generals in the audience is applauding. That can’t be a good thing.

“We don’t need to build up ISIL. We need to stop promoting the lie that somehow they are representative of one of the world’s largest religions.”

Paul Ryan is practicing his skeptical pose. He tries tilting his head first to one side, then the other. Now he’s trying a chin stroke. Perhaps he misses his beard.

“If you doubt the United States determination, or mine, just ask Osama Bin Laden. Ask the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen. Ask the leader of the Benghazi attack.”

He reminds us that US forces saved millions of lives by halting the spread of Ebola in Africa.

Now he’s promoting TPP.  A reminder that he is a corporate centrist, and not a union supporter, in spite of the support unions have given him.

Reminder that he opened relations with Cuba – yes, another accomplishment.

He claims that we are on the verge of ending HIV/AIDS, and wants to do the same with malaria.  Can this possibly be true?

On to the meat of how our politics need to bring out the best, and not the worst, in us.

Trey Gowdy looks like the ghost of David Bowie with acid reflux. He is not feeling this “poltics bring out the best” deal.

A plea to stop targeting Muslims and immigrants.

Up to now, he’s been Reasonable Obama, pleading for sense and rationality from the irrational. Now on to the rhetoric of the Obama we know and voted for. Winding it all up with “We the people”. All of us. A better politics doesn’t mean we agree on everything.

His basic themes of unity and common interest, bipartisanship, the basic decency of the American people.

“Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get all the attention.” I have no doubt that a President with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have managed to bridge the divide. And I’m gonna keep trying to get better, as long as I hold this office.”

“We have to reduce the influence of money in politics”.

“We need to make it easier to vote, not harder. We need to modernize elections. This is America. We want to make it easier for people to participate.”

Changes in our political process – not just who gets elected, but how they get elected, depends on you. (paraphrased)

I’m convinced that Paul Ryan has an itch on the back of his neck, and is trying to scratch it by rolling his head back and forth.

Our future depends on your willingness to uphold your duties as a citizen. To vote, speak out, especially for the weak. Especially for the vulnerable. We need every American to stay active in our public life, not just at election time, so that our public life reflects the decency that I see every day.

Now he’s evoking the diverse American lives  – the student, the teacher, the protester, the police officer, the boss, the worker, etc.

Now he sounds like Walt Whitman, evoking the America we love. Clear-eyed, big-hearted, optimistic that unconditional love will bring us through.

And he’s winding it up.

Well, at the risk of rotten cabbages flung from the left and right, I liked this speech. I’m proud of our President, with all of his shortcomings and might-have beens. I think that he has been a leader who has kept us from going over Bush’s brink, has managed to buy us a little more time to save life on the planet.

Comments

9 thoughts on “State of the Union Open Thread

  1. Nicki Haley is giving the response. What is wrong with her eyes? Too much botox? Can this be natural? I was getting worried about her blinking. Like a doll I used to have, when the eyelids get dirt inside and get stuck and won't lower.  Seriously creepy. This is like a Moonie trying to quick-hypnotize someone into buying scented candles. Look into my eyesssss. Further…..further….

    As far as her message, it is the same old talking points. Obama talks well (So articulate! So well spoken!), but the economy still sucks and we're not safe.

    My parents are immigrants, she says, so although she wants to close off a path to citizenship, we shouldn't take that personally as an anti-immigrant position. Now she's talking about the Charleston murders.

    To give her credit, very movingly.  And she does have some cred on removing the Confederate flag after the Charleston murders.

    Shoutout to the 2nd and 10th amendments. Pop Quiz! What's the 10th? Anybody? Bueller?

    OK, I'm done. Even if I'm the only one who reads or comments on my own diary, it was fun to write.

     

    1. 10th is the limited Federal government amendment – all powers not given to the Federal government are reserved to the States, or the People. (roughly)

      It's the current rallying cry for those who think the Federal government is too powerful, mostly the Tea Partiers (and the Bundys).

  2. I stopped watching (okay, I was listening in the kitchen. My wife was watching.) when Haley started in on "My parents were immigrants, but now we want to pull up the ladder on the next generation of newcomers". 

  3. I didn't watch but I peeked at my "Colorado Politics" list on Twitter and local blowhard Michael Brown summed up the conservative response to the entire SOTU in one tweet:

    He's talking about how strong we are as 10 sailors are being held hostage. #tonedeaf #dumbassery #SOTU

    — Michael Brown (@MichaelBrownUSA) January 13, 2016

    Yep, according to Brown and just about every other conservative, the President should've just thrown in the fucking towel on our country because 10 sailors were being detained by Iran. What a fucking dumbass.

    1. I liked David Bowie and his music just fine, but a saint, he wasn't. And you can judge for yourself if Trey Gowdy's SOTU look (this one is actually from Media Matters coverage of the Benghazi hearing), and David Bowie's look at about the same age are similar. Bowie was of course,  a musical genius, smarter, more talented and with a better fashion sense and better politics than Gowdy.

      My point was that Gowdy has a similar look as this gender-bending cultural icon. It's less an insult to Bowie,  than it is praise for Gowdy. 

      I'm sorry if you're offended by putting Gowdy and Bowie in the same sentence, but I think Bowie would have gotten the humor of the comparison.

  4. I'm not BENGAZI!

    offended BENGAZI! by a comparison BENGAZI!

    with BENGAZI! Bowie, but BENGAZI!

    I think BENGAZI! the Borg Queen is closer.

    http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CR9nEpDU8AAJc6I.jpg

    You will be assimilated.

  5. The generals never applaud–to maintain appearance of non-partisanship. Same with Supreme Court Judges. Of course, three of the latter showed their politics by not attending.

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