Here Comes Another State Of The Union Address...

[Lord Jim]

There is no better theater for a President than the SOTU address...it is without question the best PR tool in their toolbox...

All four major networks doing 30 minutes of prep work and build up...

Then the Well of The House fills with the entire top tier of the political class, friend and foe alike, all seated focusing attention on you...

The medaled commanders of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff, the ambassadors of the Important Foreign Countries, and the robed members of the Supreme Court (who by tradition do not stand and applaud) all file in...

And then...

The Great Man Arrives...

And The Sergeant at Arms Of The House announces:

Mr. Speaker! THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!

And to a thunderous standing ovation, he makes his way slowly down the aisle with his Congressional Escort, smiling, shaking hands, and bestowing the occasional kiss...

Until he arrives at the rostrum set up for him, hands copies of his speech to The Vice President and The Speaker, and then the Speaker announces:

"Members of the Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States."

And then there's another thunderous standing ovation...

And then he goes on for about an hour, (or nearly two if you're Bill Clinton) giving an utterly unremarkable speech, that consists largely of a dreary laundry list of policy objectives, punctuated by the occasional vague platitude...

During which he will be interrupted with thunderous applause numerous times; sometimes only from those on his side of The Aisle, other times from the whole House; depending on the nature of the platitude.

And of course there's also the obligatory recognition of The Ordinary Person Who Did An Extraordinary Thing, usually seated next to The First Lady...(this tradition began with Mr. Reagan, and while it was noteworthy at one time, it has become rather predictable)

Then after he completes this performance, he strides again down aisle , to another round of thunderous applause, and exits The House...

And then after that Cecil B DeMille production, we get about 10 minutes of "instant analysis" by the news-things on the networks, (which is a bit disingenuous, given the fact that the entire speech is usually released several hours in advance...)

Followed by the "opposition response"...

Which brings me to the point of this post...

(Recently, in addition to giving air time for the official GOP response, the mainstream media also gives time for a "Tea Party Response".... I understand why they do that; the media is more than happy to showcase divisions within the Republican Party...Personally I'd love to see them extend the same generosity to the Democrats...why don't we have a "Progressive" response delivered by Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren as well?...but I digress... )

So after this spectacular display, some poor shlep or shlepette (not that they're necessarily shleps or shlepettes; nobody could look good in this comparison...) comes on the tube for about 15 minutes, standing alone with no audience, looking awkward and uncomfortable in front of some phony looking book case, and that's the "response"...

The optics of the comparison are terrible. You cannot help but look puny; if Wally Cox were POTUS with all that majesty and ceremonial flummery of the SOTU at his disposal, and the "opposition response" was given by Fabio, Fabio would look like a nebish, and Wally would look like a stud...

You simply can not compete with that; you shouldn't even try...

No person has ever helped themselves politically by giving an "opposition response" and a number have damaged themselves, (Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal come to mind) and no out of power party has ever received a boost from a SOTU "opposition response"...

The parties understand how terrible the comparison looks, and over the years they've fiddled with different formats to try and use their 15 minutes of network time more effectively...

They've tried having several spokespersons, they've tried using an "infomercial" format, they've tried using canned films...The best "opposition response" ever was probably Christine Todd Whitman's back in the Clinton years...she gave her response in front of a joint session of the New Jersey State legislature, so it kind of looked like a SOTU speech...(albeit a low rent version)

It's time to just throw in the towel on this. I know it's tough to turn down what looks like millions of dollars worth of free publicity, but when the publicity just makes you look like shleps, you should turn it down..the Republican National Committee, (and the Democratic National Committee when the shoe's on the other foot) should simply decline to provide an "opposition response" to the SOTU speech, and stop playing this game...

You can't wind up looking anything but bad...

[Sue U]

she gave her response in front of a joint session of the New Jersey State legislature, so it kind of looked like a SOTU speech...(albeit a low rent version)

Hey! Our state legislators do not come cheap! And even once you've bought one, the maintenance costs are astronomical!

(Recently, in addition to giving air time for the official GOP response, the mainstream media also gives time for a "Tea Party Response" ...)

How is it that a "[c]ivic league[] or organization[] ... operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare ... the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes" gets free airtime for its political advertising? WTF?????!!???

[Lord Jim]

How is it that a "[c]ivic league[] or organization[] ... operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare ... the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, or recreational purposes" gets free airtime for its political advertising? WTF?????!!???

Damn straight...

If they're going to give them that air time, simple fairness requires that equal time be given to "The Progressive Caucus"..

[rubato]

An hour of John Boehner looking like he just downed a pitcher of vinegar. Fun!

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

During which he will be interrupted with thunderous applause numerous times; sometimes only from those on his side of The Aisle, other times from the whole House; depending on the nature of the platitude.

Always has me ROTFLMFFAO.


"The economy is going down the shitter" thunderous applause
"Lets invade Syria." thunderous applause
"My name is Obama." thunderous applause
"I had cornflakes for breakfast!" thunderous applause

[Big RR]

That's exactly what makes it damn near unwatchable; it's almost as bad as the conventions.

[Gob]

[oldr_n_wsr]

I'll be at my meeting.
Nothing beats a bunch a drunks in a church basement, certainly not the SOTU address. Tonight we have a business meeting after the regular meeting to boot. I won't get home until after 10:30pm. Oh joy

[Lord Jim]

Most unfair...

Shame on you Rowan...

[Long Run]

It might be a good speech, though no one will know since almost no one listens to this speech anymore, and few care what this POTUS has to say on most subjects at this point.

[Gob]

Tonight, President Barack Obama promised a "year of action".

But if this speech is any guide, it should more accurately be called a "year of quite small, tinkering around the edges, do what I can it in a very difficult environment, and, oh and by the way, my time is running out, actions". Gone is the audacity of hope. This State of the Union address didn't promise big changes on anything - there was no transformation on offer here. This was Mr Obama in realist mode with a workmanlike State of the Union address.

Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

More

[MajGenl.Meade]

[rubato]

He finally gave up on the "do nothing unless we can break something" congress and said so. A minor boost to the minimum wage through executive action might help pass a minimum wage bill (which is supported by voters of both parties and opposed only by the Republican 'leadership'.)

The myRA account is a loser on many counts. Federal debt has too low a return to be a valuable instrument for savings, even 30 years from now. Raising the minimum wage is a bigger and more direct boost to SS income.

gotta go ...

yrs,
rubato

[Econoline]

The 1-minute State Of The Union Remix: