Wednesday, January 26, 2011

State of the Union Message

Well, I thought it was really, really good. But y'all know I'm an Obot.

We need some vision, and this speech had plenty of it. I read the early version in National Journal, which seems to be identical with the as-delivered version.

We need to tax the wealthiest Americans more, we need to fix our infrastructure, we need to preserve the social safety net. And there was some good stuff about getting better at technology and manufacturing. Plus working together and nice words to John Boehner, whose sneering discomfort played badly, as he should have recognized when he's being made nice to.

We can do it. That was the message. With emphasis on we. Not a whole lot different from what you'd expect from a community organizer, but well said and delivered.

A subtle touch was the theme of American exceptionalism woven through the speech, but an exceptionalism of accomplishment, not whatever it is that the Tea Party is selling.

There's a lot of blah blah blah from those who wanted something more blatantly political, something that would fit their limited expectations better. But this and this can't both be accurate.

Meanwhile, the Republicans gave a splintered response and are setting themselves up for further division. Representative David Dreicer (R-CA) proposed a resolution that is likely to cut funding to the National Laboratories. I wonder if he checked with Jon Kyl on that.

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