Last night I watch President Barack Obama give his eighth and last State of the Union address. I only noticed one actual lie. He said it would be a short speech. He appeared more interested in establishing legacy than lining up support for a progressive agenda. It was an excellent speech! However, he was, in my opinion. far too conciliatory toward Republicans. Rather that calling the extreme partisanship in Washington his failure. he should have made it clear that even when he gives far too much, it is never enough to satisfy Republican demands. Even when he gives them what they ask for, they reject it and demand more. The blame for extreme partisanship rests totally with the Republican Party. I have the complete video and a transcript for you. Lets start with some highlights:
I’m going to give you my totally-biased, unvarnished impression of the State of the Union address in one sentence: I will never see another President as gifted as this one in my lifetime, and he will be missed.
And hey, when Kim Davis’ only comment about the speech was that "it was good," then you know he must have done something right. But give it time, and the spinners and haters will have you believing he cast a spell on everyone that only they can break. Before they do that, here are my favorite moments. The entire speech is at the top of the page, and my quotes are from the transcript as released ahead of the speech.
The central theme: "But such progress is not inevitable. It is the result of choices we make together. And we face such choices right now. Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together?"
Perfect framing, contrasting the fearmongering of the Republican field with a more confident, hopeful outlook of what the future can be.
The real reason we’re anxious : "Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction. What is true – and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious – is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and haven’t let up. "
I thought he did an excellent job of addressing the anxiety that many still do feel, even if many probably won’t have ears to hear.
Calling out deniers: "Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny Sputnik was up there. We didn’t argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon. "
I wanted to give that first line a standing ovation, but he didn’t stop with that… [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>
Click through for more great high points.
If you missed toe speech or want to review, here’s the complete video.
Or if you prefer, here is the transcript of Obama’s 2016 SOTU address.
You know what I think. What say you?
18 Responses to “The State of Our Union Is Strong”
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"However, he was, in my opinion. far too conciliatory toward Republicans." Boy, is that ever the truth. I understand why he did it, but it is too bad. And while it might work with sane people – it won't even work with Republicans. Because they aren't.
I question using expenditures as a measure of the strength of our military – however, since that's exactly how Republicans think, it was probably the right thing to do.
Having recently read this, I thought of it when he tasked Biden. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/01/12/1468635/-Joe-Biden-says-Barack-Obama-offered-to-help-financially-after-Beau-Biden-s-death
I agree it was a great speech. He was also realistic with only four specifics he requested of Congres for the agenda he layed out, far fewer than is typical in any Presidents SOTU speech.
My other observations are more on the nonverbal aspects of having watched the speech:
As he arrived, Mitch and he greeted VERY warmly–does that relate to Mitch not going with the recent conservative call to block all judicial nominations (one did just get approved I saw-the first person of color to the Third Circuit)?
Ryan read his intro without any vocal intonation or audience eye contact then morphed into figiting hands (sometimes looked like he wanted to join Biden in applause but stopped himself) reminiscent of middle school mandatory assemblies–was this because he was pulling a stunt like might happen in a middle school election that maturity of high schoolers would condemn if it was done in high school? I refer to his mid speech press release trashing the speech not yet heard that dishonored the office of Speaker of the House.
I haven't gotten to watch it yet. I will check in later after I have had a chance to watch it. But from the snippets I've seen, he did an EXCELLENT job!!!
It truly was an excellent speech – but when has Pres. Obama ever NOT risen to the task?
Did anyone else want to stomp up to the Speaker and slap that silly, smug smirk off his face?
Say, Paul – if you can’t be a grownup at such a historical event, the door is that way à … USE IT!
And I would’ve loved a shout out from Pres. Obama to Kim Davis:
Ryan is showing us that this GOP does not care or choose to honor old fashioned values like maturity, respect, dignity, graceful losing…the list could go on and on and on with fewer and fewer their choices let them claim…I hope, since he claims to be a good Catholic, that he has gone to the confessional to receive penance for this poor performance at odds with the guidance provided by the Vatican.
SINA: I love it!
Huh?
SINA stands for
https://www.allacronyms.com/SINA
My Decoder Ring is on the blink …
A little help w/ "SINA" would be most appreciated
What has the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals or the Singing Insects of North America ot to do with Paul Ryan's smirk or Kima Davids presense, Mitch?
???
Oh, poop – i was about ready to PM Mitch and ask when I figured it out – SINA = SoINeedA(name).
DING-DING-DING!!!
And it looks like we have a WINNER!
(At least it proves I'm not TOTALLY self-absorbed)
I watched it online, as I had a meeting to attend.
I found his speech compelling. It was wonderful!!
*JL, I noticed that too, about Ryan.
Thanks, Tom.
Thanks for letting me know Pat!
I was very pleased with his reference to our not denying Sputnik, and the line about how climate deniers will wind up finding themselves all alone, but would have liked him to directly address the putz congressman who went on record about climate change being the biggest hoax, ever, with a comment that the hoax, in this regard, is calling climate change a hoax.
The "…peddling fiction," comment was more politic than saying "these folks are full of shit!"
Yes, I would have liked to go kick Ryan whre his brain is. And at whom did he keep glancing over to his left to see, his puppeteer?
I've seen parts of the speech here on Aussie local television and again was impressed by Obama's sincerity and by the way he has taken the art of making a speech to another level. I felt sad too, because this man could have done so much more for America if the Republicans had been able to forget their hatred of the black man in the White House once in a while and worked with him instead of against it. It is such a waste when a leader is recognized for his qualities when he's on the way out.
However good Obama's speech was, Paul Ryan's face was an enormous distraction. It is a very unfortunate setup for the State of the Union, and it must be difficult to keep your face neutral if you hate the guts of the person standing before you, but Ryan probably couldn't muster anything more neutral than this smirk. Had he sat anywhere else, he'd probably have been pulling faces like the little schoolboy he still is. Now he sat there with a face that kept taking my focus on Obama's speech away and made me look at him. In a way I'm glad I didn't have to sit through the whole State of the Union…
Thanks all. I agree. Ryan was disgusting.
I noticed how Obama snuck in a plug for the TPP. We could have done without that!