About 75 minutes from the time I start writing this post, the 44th President of the United States, President Barack Hussein Obama, will give his second State of the Union address.
Honestly, I’m not paying attention to it at all. I might read the text of it tomorrow, as is my custom, but I will not be watching live, and any clips I happen to see will be from TVs that happen to be playing it.
But I did want to touch on one issue about the State of the Union in general.
You see, much like Christians have built up their own religion that has absolutely nothing to do with the text of the Bible, so too has a whole lot of pomp and circumstance built up around the State of the Union that there is no basis for.
Article 2 Section 3 of the US Constitution says this, about the President in regards to the State of the Union:
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient
Note that there is no mention at all of a live address in front of both chambers of Congress. Nor is there any reference to the idea that the general public should even know it is happening, much less be able to read its text after (and even before!) it is delivered or see it delivered live from anywhere on the planet. No where in the Constitution is it mentioned that broadcast television is to be completely disrupted while this State of the Union is being delivered. No where is it mentioned that the President’s Party shall give a standing ovation every other sentence – or even every other word, as it often seems like.
Now, I’ll certainly grant that the Founding Fathers could never in their wildest imaginations have foreseen the power of modern communications technologies. Who knows, maybe they would have codified into the Constitution much of what now happens.
But I tend to like President Jefferson’s take on quite a bit of things, and the State of the Union is no different. Apparently, he delivered his first one live to Congress in the form of a speech, then decided that there was simply too much pomp and circumstance and that it was eerily reminiscent of king worship – the very system he and the rest of the Founders had fought so hard against for so very long. After his first State of the Union, Jefferson thus delivered to the Congress each year a written document that was his State of the Union – 7 more, in all.
I doubt we will actually follow the example of Jefferson in this regard and simply do the work of the Nation without so much pomp and circumstance. Quite frankly, we are simply too engrained in our traditions without critically examining why we do them.
Still, wouldn’t it be nice if we could at least let the President deliver his entire speech without interruption? Could we at least get that much?
I wholeheartedly agree with you on all counts. To me, the SOTU is nothing but a big dog and pony show. Everyone vies for the aisle seats so they can be sure that they can see and be seen. Some desperate guy got to the Chamber at 8:00 to stake out the seat he normally sits in every SOTU. I think a simple written statement would suffice. Too much theatrics and a whole lot of overkill.
I watched the entire SOTU. I was underwhelmed. Maybe I expected too much. I only hope that we survive this administration.
Cartman’s No-Frills Highlights of the SOTU Address:
He took credit for saving a couple of million jobs.
He took credit for averting the recession.
He took credit for winding down the Iraq war.
He took credit for bringing transparency to government.
He took credit for cutting taxes to the middle-class.
He blamed the banks for the recession and bonuses.
He blamed “Washington” for the bureaucracy in passing real reform.
He blamed Bush for the deficit he inherited.
He blamed Senate Democrats for not passing legislation sent by the House. (and indicated that since they didn’t pass a recent measure that he would simply issue an executive order).
He blamed both House and Senate Democrats for not governing and being scared about reelection.
He blamed Republicans for blindly opposing legislation.
He blamed the Supreme Court for opening the floodgate on corporate contributions.
He blamed himself for not adequately explaining Healthcare to the people.
He wants to have our troops out of Iraq by the end of August.
He wants to openly allow gays into the military.
He wants to take $30b of the TARP money repaid by big banks to go to small banks to loan to small businesses.
He wants banks to pay an extra tax.
He wants to punish companies that send jobs overseas.
He wants to give tax breaks to companies that increase payroll in the U.S.
He wants to make student loans repayments cap at 10% of income and 20 years (10 years if employed in public service).
He wants to set teachers pay on their performance rather than level of education and tenure.
He wants to increase exports to create jobs.
He wants to create green jobs by tax breaks to those who make homes more energy-efficient.
He wants to develop domestic energy sources by: drilling off-shore for oil (oh please), natural gas (wait for it), and coal-burning plants (can you believe it came out of his mouth?).
He wants to seal our borders, but allow those who play by the rules to participate.
He wants to still pass Cap & Trade.
He wants to still pass Healthcare Reform.
He wants to regularly meet with Republicans to get their input.
He said it’s not about him.
Blah blah blah. I’m sorry. I’m sure I left something important out. I can’t remember more, my brain hurts.
I will continue to pray for our country.
I thought it was hilarious when he brought up Global Warming (or did he say Climate Change?). I don’t think he got quite the reaction he was expecting!