In case you missed last night’s state of the union address, here it is (and here are a few departures from the script). It was…OK. It was largely focused on the economy (which is slowly getting better) and increasing opportunity for those who aren’t doing as well — so that was good. I’m not entirely convinced that Obama isn’t still in the pocket of Wall Street, but he talks a good game.
There was a little bit about climate change, and he made a sharp dig at the Republicans.
I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.
There was some I was less impressed with.
As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we’re threatened, which is why I’ve prohibited torture, and worked to make sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained.
Oh, yeah? I know it’s a political speech full of platitudes, but I’d like to see the evidence that Americans as Americans have a particular respect for human dignity. From Abu Ghraib to Ferguson, the facts seem to state otherwise. To say that you’ve prohibited torture is a mighty low standard to set, and claiming that you’ve “constrained” technology that is used to blow people up isn’t saying much.
The Republicans brought on their Great White Hope, Joni “Pig Testicles” Ernst of Iowa, to state their rebuttal. Clearly they’re hoping to groom an exciting new challenger, but she was terrible, droning on and on about how poor she was growing up, but now she’s seen the benefits of selling out to the rich — oh, wait, no, she didn’t say the last part. Maybe it plays well with Republican farmers, but I just saw Sarah Palin on sedatives. She did succeed at one thing: her new nickname will be Joni “Bread Bags” Ernst.
I guess the Tea Party and Rand Paul and Ted Cruz also had rebuttals, but damn, I just couldn’t care less.
You linked to a head line that reads:
Obama’s feisty ad libs steal show
That’s because those ad libs were so well rehearsed.
President gives SOTU speech, opposing party declares his proposals “DOA.” Gee, somehow that sounds vaguely familiar. Now, where have I heard it before? Yawn. I never listen to political speeches, even by politicians I voted (or will vote) for, or to political debates. Total waste of time. Of course, that’s just one person’s opinion.
Holy shit, SFAM has been on fire lately.
@1 – well to be fair the article did talk about a genuine moment of ad lib in the SOTU speech. Obama was heckled and received sarcastic applause from the republican wing when he said he had no more campaigns to run. His response was awesome (“I know, because I won both of them.” ) and probably the most genuine thing I have ever heard him say. An awesome moment of unrehearsed response, unlike Ernst’s SOTUS response which sounded like it was written 2 weeks ago. Now if we could just see some more ad lib responses on real issues!
@4
He was seriously channelling Luther, his anger translator, on that one. (And for those of you who have not seen those Key and Peele sketches, I recommend them.)
Translation: “Maybe the Republicans will finally start taking global warming seriously if I turn fear of warming into fear of people. Republicans always fear people.”
I actually think that’s gonna work pretty well.
I did not see POTUS do the SOTU. IDK, I Don’t Care. The SOTU is what it is, I don’t need the POTUS to tell me what it is. I want to hear “What he’s gonna DO about it”. I want a State of the FUTURE Union.
(not as in a campaign speech, but an actual description of his “todo” list.) Maybe I’m just soured by one St. Ronny did, about how his StarWars approach will protect us from Nucular Attack and him hoping Aliens will descend, to be the Common Enemy, uniting the world to fend them off.
.
I read elsewhere (io9.com) that Obama gave his speech at the level of Grade 10. (according to the the Flesch-Kincaid readability test, a widely recognized reading comprehension algorithm.) Which does not compare favorably (in absolute terms only) to previous presidents: St. Ronny = 11, Tricky Dick = 12, JFK = 13, Woody Wilson = 15!
Now, I wish I HAD seen it. And Obama giving the “I’m not a Scientist, but …” schtick a poke in the eye would have been a treat. He said exactly what I was telling those ‘blowhards’ to finish that “but…” with: ‘Yes, (Capt Obvious), you’re NOT a Scientist, … but… LISTEN to Them!!!’
I can’t stand that Ernst woman. I had to listen to all the Iowa political ads on my pandora and it drove me nuts. As soon as they said she was a 20 year military member and in charge of the largest battalion in the Iowa National Guard I knew she was going to be someone I didn’t want to vote for. This isn’t ancient Rome, we shouldn’t automatically retire our generals (or lieutenant colonels) to the congress.
I’m sure we’ll always have extraordinary rendition, though. Why get your own hands dirty, when you can just pass off your detainees to some authoritarian regime that will do the job for you, no questions asked? Bill Clinton started this vile practice, years before Cheney was growling about and I doubt it’ll be ending anytime soon (and it may even be longer before the government ever fully admits to it).
As far as “new technology like drones” is concerned, I’m not much more hopeful. Remember, Obama is the president who authorized a lethal drone attack on an American citizen without trial, and then another one that killed the man’s teenaged son. So, maybe he only means “properly constrained” to mean the executive branch, to be used upon whoever it deems unworthy of life, much less a fair trial.
David Marjanović @#6
Would that it were so. Will Democrats be joining the conversation? I haven’t seen many of them going out a limb about climate change, particularly the anthropomorphic part. It’s probably one reason Obama’s comment about the climate is striking…like a shout in a room of otherwise silent apathy. Also, fear is a tricky motivation. Humans tend to kill that which they fear whether it’s tigers or the poor. Republicans are no exception, nor are Democrats.
I’m not entirely convinced that Obama isn’t still in the pocket of Wall Street…
Gee, why would anyone think that of a president who only prosecuted three fewer financial finaglers than did the Bush-Cheney gang (who prosecuted three financial finaglers), after inheriting an economy devastated by financial finaglers? Would our esteemed host have been convinced if Obama had negotiated the TransPacific Trade Pact with even less disclosure and more wholesale transfers of power to the corporate sector?
… but he talks a good game.
Quite safe (i.e., utterly ineffective and theatrical) to do in the face of a Congress controlled entirely by bought-and-paid-for agents of the 1%, who will entertain proposals to increase taxes on the wealthy only for the purpose of denouncing them and enacting the opposite.
Republicans have posted the President’s State of the Union address … well, most of it. They edited out the following paragraph:
Nope. That’s not right, Republicans. You should not get away with editing out that part.
Link.
But Lynna,
If they post the parts where he burns their pasty white asses, then how will they be able to convince their supporters of his racial inferiority?
Republicans always have their mouth full of “support our troops” and “protect the homeland”, but when the troops tell them that to protect the homeland, they should do something about climate change, suddenly the support goes out the window.
@David Marjanović in #6:
Except that in that case, the solution isn’t going to be to reduce greenhouse emissions, but to kill the people who will become a threat.
Republicans had a guy deliver a Spanish language translation of Joni Ernst’s speech. He took a few liberties. This is not the first time that Republicans have told Spanish speaking audiences that they were interested in immigration reform, while telling English speaking audiences something different.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/carlos-curbelo-joni-ernst-immigration-reform
Joni Ernst’s rebuttal is largely “blah blah, being poor is dignified and character building. blah blah Obamacare sucks and we’re going to try 300 more times to get rid of it. blah blah and I’m back to talk about how being poor is so dignified and poor people don’t need anything but the ‘sweat on their brow’ to be successful.”
The comic was right on. She was incredibly robotic throughout the entire speech. I think the GOP see her as a bit of an anti-Palin. They want a woman to tote around, so they lose the reputation of being the party of old white men, but Palin’s off the cut idiocy didn’t work for them. Ernst is the opposite, every word and gesture carefully planned, and she sounds just like the automated voice you here while your call is holding on the telephone, void of any emotion except cheeriness.
As for the SOTU, I agree with the OP. Obama talks a good game, but I don’t except much of it to come to fruition, and I object to his labeling of drone strike policies as “properly constrained.” Tell that to the family members of the innocent people who were blown up by US drones under Obama’s presidency.
And like every year, the SOTU has revived my disdain for the art of strategic clapping, as all the repubs watched John Boehner carefully so they know when to clap and when to pretend they weren’t listening. It’s all just a stupid show.
a_ray @13:
Ha! That me laugh. Good point.
Wow, Lynna. That’s a scandal!
That’s how Republicans like it. They know how to kill people. They don’t know how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (without doing lots of *gasp* unthinkable things).
@17, speaking of strategic clapping, Daily Kos compiled a list of everything for which the Republicans did not clap:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/20/1359111/-Republicans-are-a-tough-crowd
One just has to say, “Really!?”
Republican SOTU responses get lost in translation | MSNBC
Not the first time:
So convenient.
Of course he bloody is. What could possibly have led you to think otherwise?
The Grand Old Playboys committed another “sin of omission”:
Blockquote> In the full version of the speech, as seen by millions in America and around the world, Obama said: ” I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what – I know a lot of really good scientists at Nasa, and Noaa, and at our major universities.”
Those words however did not make the cut in the official House Republican version, billed as an “enhanced webcast” that would be “holding President Obama accountable in real-time”.
The Republican version also avoided the subsequent lines in which Obama said: “The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.” There is no reference to the Pentagon in the Republican version. –The Guardian
Whyt am I not surprised? (rhetorically)
^^
borked the blockquote. and spelling topyo to boot. I think y’all can figger it out.
Joni Ernst’s family benefited from big government subsidies. This makes the “poor people should wear plastic bags as clothing” attitude somewhat suspect.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/22/1359464/-Living-within-their-means-Family-of-Senator-Joni-Ernst-received-460-000-in-federal-aid#
Cross posted from the Lounge.
This is an OMG moment for me. Scary and stupid at the same time. Republican politicians often do stupid stuff, but when they combine that with scary stuff it makes me want to pull my hair out.
Link.
As was mentioned up-thread, “class warfare” was likely to be the rightwing response to the SOTU address. Not just likely. This “class warfare” outcry is already well underway:
http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/01/21/right-wing-media-decry-obamas-economic-policy-p/202229