I only heard clips on the radio, and I’ve only just turned on the idiot box to hear the blather, but apparently his speech was well received.
I did see a clip where Obama listed the tax cuts he signed into law last year, and the Republicans were still sitting on their hands with sour looks (McCain was the worst!). He cracked a joke, “I thought that would earn some applause from you,” and a few of them clapped.
McCain’s on Larry King right now whining about the lack of bipartisanship from Obama. And I mean whining. High pitched.
Did anybody watch it? Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s all talk. Doesn’t mean anything. Blah, blah. But it’s good political theater, and it does actually means something to a lot of people.
I’d like to see this moment of the speech. From a TPM poster:
Maybe it’s just because I’m a poli sci major turned lawyer, but that moment when he turned to the Supremes and took them directly to task for Dred Scott II the Citizens United opinion, and then watching the majority look completely taken aback as the other branch of government stood up, looked at them and cheered actually stunned me a bit.
McCain did force a compliment out of his mouth for Obama. Kind of mandatory since it was McCain’s law which was slapped down. The old McCain’s that is, but McCain’s nevertheless.
Apparently Alito wasn’t happy.
Chris Matthews delivered an odd comment: “I forgot he was black tonight.”
And Joe what’s-his-name’s 15 minutes are over. He obviously took his medication. No wackoid outbursts tonight.
Addendum: It does appear that the speech did Obama and the Democrats some good.
Second addendum: Mike Thompson commenting on the speech doesn’t really say where he falls on health care at this point, except to say that Obama needs to show “leadership” on the issue. And he is backing Obama’s call for discretionary spending freezes, which is absolutely amateurish and detrimental policy in a recession where even most conservative economists will tell you that deficit spending is actually necessary to stimulate the economy. Granted 25 billion a year isn’t that big on the scale of things, but it could make a difference for tens of thousands looking for work. And exempting military spending from the strategy is even more detrimental as we have seen some of the worst graft, pork, and unaccounted for money in that area than all the others put together. Anybody remember that 10 billion or whatever which simply disappeared in Iraq a few years ago? We could use that money right now.
Third addendum: Nate Silver analyzes some numbers in the speech. Not the ones you’re thinking of. I hope he’s getting paid for his time! The graph tallying the buzz words of various SOTUs is a mere sample.
24 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 27, 2010 at 9:35 pm
moviedad
Meaningless words.
January 27, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Anonymous
He admitted making mistakes which is something Bush never did. Refreshing. But I am concerned about abandoning health care to go after wall street and jobs. If it doesn’t pass now it won’t.
January 27, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Moonshadow
@anonymous . . . perhaps it shouldn’t pass in the present form.
Remember something worth doing is worth doing right.
January 27, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Dave
My two cents:
Another dog and pony show. I’m reminded of promises made last year. Reality has hit. Obama can’t get a damn thing done because he’s going against a corporate tide that threatens to engulf him every time he pushes for any real reform – health or otherwise.
Sad. But true. When you dance with the devil he comes looking for you!
January 27, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Ernie's Place
I agree with Dave, but most Americans agree with what Obama said tonight. If he bucks the corporations, do you think that he can succede? Most Americans would be solidly behind him if he did. But, he would have to go against big money and the mainstream media.
All in all; He said most of the things that I wanted to hear. The first thing out of his mouth was “jobs”. He proposed penalizing those companies taking jobs off-shore, while giving incentives and tax breaks for those companies developing jobs here. I liked that.
He said that it was time to consider “clean” nuclear power. That got a standing ovation from both sides of the Isle. Even the people that formerly sat out other comments were enthusiastically applauding. Wow, what a difference a decade makes. I liked that.
Mums the word on Guantanamo. I liked that.
He implied that the failure of health care was a the feet of the republicans, that they weren’t acting cooperatively. And challenged them to present a better plan. McCain said that they had better plans but they were not considered. Yawn… A point can be made about the fact that the health care bill was put together behind closed doors, with the help of pharmaceutical companies, and it was indecipherable, and incomprehensible. Nobody understands it, and if you do, explain it to me, would you?? I have no conclusion on health care. I want it to work, not fail, and it needs to go together right to work. So far, I haven’t seen anything that encourages me. I didn’t like that.
Obama didn’t like the fact that corporation have been made “people” and that would give foreign powers election privilege in the United states. I liked the fact that he knows that.
It almost sounded like the campaign rhetoric that he is yet to deliver on. If he doesn’t come through on jobs for Americans he will lose me completely. Jobs are my number one desire. The balance of trade will take care of itself if we have jobs here. Obama pointed out the need to develop a nation product to be sold offshore. That will provide more American jobs. I didn’t quite catch what he said about military products. I was to busy being happy about Jobs for Americans.
Time will tell.
January 27, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Rose
It was not about the State of the Union. It was about Obama, Obama, Obama.
What tax cuts? You mean the $17 they “gave back” as part of, which bill was it? “Stimulus?”
And suddenly he’s for nuclear power and drilling? Hilarious. Scott Brown musta scared him more than we thought. He was almost trying to be a republican. Talk radio will be on FIRE tomorrow, especially once the fact checking comes out.
Ernie’s right – it was a campaign speech with everything including the kitchen sink thrown in – I kept hearing “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” It was all about him, trying to woo people back to the love, campaigning is such hard work, and you just don’t see how I want you to love me…. almost Evita like, but the magic is gone… where did it go?
January 27, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Matt
If you want to know about the various health care reform bills, you can learn about them and do comparisons here: http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm
Our economy is going to be busted until we start making some sort of products here in the US again. Currently, pretty much everything is made in China.
January 27, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Tom Sebourn
Obama said we would double our exports over the next 5 years. He mentioned agriculture and other exports. Does that mean more Monsanto crops finding their ways to third world countries to undercut the farmers there? We already did that to the rice farmers of Haiti.
He was right about divided politics but how do we get republicans like Senator Inhofe to read a bill before he decides to vote against it?
Overall, it was a good speech for the nation as a whole. He sounds like a republican with vision like Ike or something. Republicans of today don’t recognize a corporate populist when they see one. Difference is, Ike was less a supporter of the militarized industrial complex.
January 28, 2010 at 8:43 am
Eric Kirk
I did get to see the speech before I went to sleep, and yes, it was good. He was careful not to promise anything, but considering the disarray of the political climate right now I found it interesting that he made some very concrete proposals.
The anti-wall street/bank thing is a political maneuver probably generated by internal polling and the reality Republicans face when trying to claim a populist mandate but opposing the moderate reforms Obama is likely to push. Good politics and probably good policy.
He probably thinks he can deliver on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell because he has Lieberman backing it. But I wouldn’t trust Lieberman as far as I could throw a stick, certainly not if he really intends to carry out his threat of running on the Republican ticket.
I saw the Alito clip. I don’t think it was such a big deal – certainly not a “Joe Wilson moment” that some Democrats are claiming. There’s a big difference between muttering to yourself and screaming out. Granted, Alito should realize that all cameras are going to be on him in moments like that. He’s obviously uncomfortable with the decision.
The Republicans really didn’t do themselves any favor. I saw one of them actually waving his arms to get his fellow Republicans to stand up and pretend like they actually support health care reform. The sourpuss images they generated last night will cost them a few points, especially the ones with arms folded over their chests.
And the claims of Republican spokespeople yesterday that they have been “excluded” from negotiations on health care are just outright lies, no nicer way to put it. They actually wrote much of the Senate Bill, particularly Charles Grassley who then said he’d vote against his own bill because his fellow Republicans were voting against it. The bottom line is that the Republicans are pissed that they lost in 2008 and they don’t want to do anything which will help Obama get reelected, even if it means opposing their own proposals (like cap and trade). And they told other lies as well.
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/giuliani-wrongly-says-obama-didnt-talk-about-xmas-bomber-video.php?ref=fpblg
Tim Geitner looked stressed. I wonder if he’s getting the axe.
Slipping under the radar of discussion is that Obama proclaimed the Iraq War over. That was easy.
January 28, 2010 at 8:46 am
ideology and corruption
Obama said he would have our troops out of Iraq by August. Then the camera panned to Lieberman mouthing the words “Sure you will, sure you will.”
I am angry, too. But, George W. Bush said the job would be easier if the President was a dictator. It is too bad that Democrats in the legislature aren’t as cohesive as the Republicans were under Bush.
January 28, 2010 at 9:24 am
Cynthia
Matt wrote: Our economy is going to be busted until we start making some sort of products here in the US again. Currently, pretty much everything is made in China.
Yep . . . those sticking accelerator pedals that have prompted the Toyota recall and factory shutdown are made . . . in . . . China
Ford just had to halt production on a commercial vehicle that used them because the accelerator pedals mechanisms came from the same factory in China.
This is what all our profit motivated corporate outsourcing to other countries has cost us!
January 28, 2010 at 9:40 am
Anonymous
“Anybody remember that 10 billion or whatever which simply disappeared in Iraq a few years ago? We could use that money right now.”
It was 8 billion Eric. Don’t exaggerate.
January 28, 2010 at 9:50 am
Moonshadow
Well Eric did say . . . “or whatever.”
January 28, 2010 at 9:58 am
milt
Entirely predictable that POTUS Emeritus, John McCain, is whining in the media after POTUS Elected, Barrack Hussein Obama’s SOTU. Obama’s proposed tax increase on the rich is a direct attack against Cindy Lou and a man’s got to defend his wife, you know. McCain would give Cindy another tax cut AND launch a war against Iran at the same time. Like love and marriage, it’s now an official part of the Repo playbook: Tax cut and invade, tax cut and invade. The underlying unspoken element in the couplet is the hint of plunder which will balance it all out. That scheme really worked well in Iraq, didn’t it. I was gratified to hear Obama pointing that out last night. About fookin time.
January 28, 2010 at 10:06 am
Eric Kirk
Actually, to be honest, I don’t think McCain would launch a war against Iran. I don’t think he would have invaded Iraq.
January 28, 2010 at 10:36 am
milt
I strongly disagree. You forget how joined at the hip he and Lieberman are and you certainly must be aware of what the latter Siamese twin wants more than anything else – besides amassing personal wealth for the Lieberman clan.
ABC, in a 2008 election report after his ‘Bomb,bomb, Iran,’ Beach Boy parody: “On a more serious note, however, McCain has long been an advocate of dealing with rogue states aggressively. Back in 2000 when then-Gov. George W. Bush was wary of nation building and talking about a foreign policy based on humility and restraint, McCain was advocating a policy of ‘rogue-state rollback,’ which he described in a 1999 speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a ’21st century interpretation of the Reagan doctrine.’”
January 28, 2010 at 10:44 am
milt
Or, he might have been prescient and was merely envisioning an attack against this Rogue state.
January 28, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Arcatawitch
Sadly, I have to say that he tried so hard to sound like a Republican, he did! offshore oil drilling? more nuke plants? good grief. whatever next?
January 28, 2010 at 6:43 pm
janelle
As he described the mess he inherited I was reminded of this, a fake interview just for fun:
http://paulboylan.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/interview-with-obama/
January 28, 2010 at 7:29 pm
anon says
was anyone else as shocked as I was when obama advocated for building NEW nuclear plants as well as NEW off shore oil drilling?
January 28, 2010 at 8:10 pm
moviedad
He is, like they all are, a corporate representative. There is only the party of the rich, and the rest of us. Why do you put so much value on empty words? What will happen is the corps will get more and more license to implement oppressive policies in every aspect of our lives. Insurance, employment, government registrations, health care, prisons. Failing to pay them to the last dimes will be the new crime wave. the prisons will fill with a new generation of debtors. Then just like China, there will be prison/work-labor factory camps to pay back to the corps the money you stole from them by not paying your new credit card charges.
Get ready for Palin/limbaugh in 2012. There to put a nice arrogant, self-satisfied face on it all.
January 28, 2010 at 10:22 pm
What'chew going to do?
I don’t like nuclear. But coal-fired electricity generation is largely responsible for bringing us to the brink of climate change disaster. Green energy solutions are projected to meet only 20% of world demand by the end of this century. As much as I don’t like using fossil fuels to power transportation, new sources for oil will be needed as we convert to electric or some other clean energy source for vehicles. Skyrocketing fuel prices caused by a sudden shortage in the supply chain would be a disaster. But, I know, it seems like we should be finding solutions and implementing them faster. Seems like we could solve a lot of problems if the Pentagon budget wasn’t close to a trillion dollars.
Obama is an easy target. Many of the issues that he grapples with are global in scope. There is nothing he could have done to turn the economy completely around in one year. If he hadn’t saved some of the infrastructure I feel sure that we would be in a lot worse place.
I’m more frustrated with the lack of cohesiveness demonstrated by Congressional Democrats.
January 29, 2010 at 12:13 am
michael
Efficiency, solar and wind all cost far less and produce more jobs per watt of added (or saved) capacity. No new nuke technologies are ready (The highly touted Thorium reactors, for instance, still need to develop materials to contain fast neutrons and molten Florine salts).
Don’t say “base load” because that is a non issue. Norway runs their hydro plants backwards with excess juice for later use. We could run local syn-gas in our existing turbines. Anywhere could build bulky, low-tech, 6 story aluminum foil and oiled paper capacitors. Yes, a high voltage DC transmission network would be a great national asset.
Nukes only benefit electricity retailers, engineers and contractors, while further centralizing the grid and displacing real solutions while burdening countless future generations with our folly.
January 29, 2010 at 1:27 pm
moviedad
“…and displacing real solutions ” absolutely true. Every thing put forward has this quality to it.