The State of the Union Speech
In case you missed the President’s State of the Union address, it was a masterpiece of political speech. The speech was neatly divided into three parts, which can be nicely summarized as follows:
Part 1 - I’m a fiscal conservative.
The President opened his speech by staking out a position that normally would be held by a Ronald Regan conservative: cut spending, eliminate waste, only spend what you can afford (of course, if you look at the results, not even Ronald Regan was actually a Ronald Regan conservative when it came to spending). Despite my ingrained distrust of a man who has kept precious few of his campaign promises, I was kind of digging what he was saying in the early going. If he holds true to those values espoused during the first twenty minutes of the State of the Union, I honestly could be voting to reelect Obama in 2012. That’s a big ”if”.
Part 2 – It’s all Bush’s fault.
President Obama continued his ongoing campaign against President Bush, despite the fact that he was elected over a year ago and that he never actually ran against Bush (remember old John McCain?). The economy is Bush’s fault. It would have been worse, except for the sage actions of President Obama. The wars are Bush’s fault. They would be worse now, if not for the wise and decisive action of Obama. Even your distrust of the government is Bush’s fault. You just don’t get how wise and wonderful Obama has been in the last year.
Part 3 – I am the king, and the king can do no wrong.
Also known as the great chastisements, the third section of the speech was a delightful assault on everyone in sight. It reminded me of the scene in Taledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby where Ricky thought that you could insult someone in the most awful way as long as you said “with all due respect” first. The Supreme Court is wrong, the Democrats are lost and spineless, the Republicans are obstructionists who do nothing but stand in his way. Obama let loose on anyone and everyone who ever crossed him or who may consider crossing him at some hypothetical point in the future.
Good speech. Good political theater.
