I posted something about the State of the Union address the other day, and one of my friends on Facebook asked if I’d be watching. I didn’t
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answer there, but this is my reply. No, I don’t intend to watch it. I’m definitely not a fan of President Obama (*DfOaLG), or any of his policies, but that’s not why. I couldn’t watch them when George Bush was president, and I liked him. I think the last SOTU address that I watched was the one after 9/11, because I thought GW would have something important to say. He might have, but I don’t remember what it was.
I like the idea of the SOTU address: the president assembles, with the help of his advisors, an address that signals to the American people the condition of our great republic. In lofty prose, they help us see the future of our country, and give us hope that the coming year will invariably be better than the last.
In execution, however, these things are unbearable. The reason I don’t remember anything about Bush’s speech is I was extremely annoyed by the activity that goes along
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with the speaking. An obligatory ovation after every two sentences, and a protracted standing ovation after every paragraph, kicked off by members of whichever party the president belongs to. The whole thing has become overwrought political theater and partisan grandstanding, and it’s impossible to watch. Oh, and the speeches just get longer, and longer, and longer – as though their import is weighed by their length. Ever hear of the Gettysburg Address, fellas?
This year’s speech doesn’t hold the promise of being any different. In addition to the speculation about what the president will say, and whether he will move toward the center (infuriating the furthermost left, but helping his re-election cause), there’s the political theater of which members of the opposing parties will be prom dates, and whether the Supremes will all show up (I wouldn’t if I were them).
So, no, I’m not watching. I’ll wait and hear the analysis, filtered through viewpoints from varying positions along the political spectrum. Those analyses will then be lambasted by the folks from the opposite side as being either too sycophantic, or too critical, or too something, or not enough. More of the same, basically. So, I’m watching Red with my family. I’ll read about what was said tomorrow, and probably even offer an opinion on some aspect of it – but it will be second-hand. Maybe that’s not being an upstanding American (or maybe that’s exactly what it is), but I’m at the place now where I don’t do things I don’t like much, if I don’t have to. And the SOTU address – I don’t like much.
*Descended from Olympus and Lightworker Genius
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