Posted on 01/26/2010 2:18:58 PM PST by The Pack Knight
Tomorrow night, an embattled President Obama will deliver his 2010 State of the Union. He originally wanted to give it on Feb. 2, but — adding to a string of recent indignities — had to yield after irate Lost fans made clear they wouldn't put up with their season premiere getting pre-empted by a lousy presidential speech.
Lost is a silly show — a six-year-long Twilight Zone episode doomed to end in disappointment. But you can hardly blame Americans for preferring it to the SOTU, a dull and tacky spectacle that celebrates our retreat from limited, constitutional government.
The Constitution requires that the president "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union." But it doesn't mandate the modern pageant of pomp, circumstance, and phony promises we suffer through every year.
In fact, for most of the Republic's first century, the SOTU was a modest, informational affair. Presidents sent the written address to Congress, to be read aloud by a clerk. That was thanks to President Jefferson, who thought delivering the speech before Congress assembled smacked too much of a king's "Speech from the Throne."
When the power-hungry Woodrow Wilson overturned the Jeffersonian tradition in 1913, one senator cursed the revival of "the old Federalistic custom of speeches from the throne," calling it a "cheap and tawdry imitation of English royalty."
The speech only got worse from there, especially after the advent of television and LBJ's decision to move the address to prime time. That sealed the SOTU's transformation into the modern ritual, in which the president stands at the front of the House chamber making exorbitant promises that would shame a carny barker, while congresscritters stand and clap like members of the Supreme Soviet cheering a Brezhnev speech.
Ronald Reagan introduced the unfortunate custom of pointing to "Lenny Skutniks:" ordinary citizens in the SOTU audience who help the president hammer home his theme. Skutnik himself was a hero who dove into the icy Potomac to rescue a plane-crash survivor, but lately, presidents tend to bring along "victim Skutniks" who can serve as living arguments for federal activism. In his 2000 SOTU, Bill Clinton acknowledged a Columbine parent and anti-gun advocate, and in last year's address, Barack Obama saluted a young girl trying to learn in a dilapidated school.
Political scientist Elvin T. Lim finds that the modern SOTU has grown increasingly "compassionate and emotive," its content more "egalitarian and redistributive." References to the Constitution, quite common in our first century, have declined, replaced by "an increasing lack of humility" on the part of the president.
After the apparent failure of President Obama's hubristic attempt to take over the health care sector, it's little wonder so many plan to tune out on Wednesday.
When Richard Nixon gave a prime-time address in 1971, more than half of the viewing public watched. In 2003, George W. Bush could do no better than 21 percent.
When Obama had to make way for Lost, some lamented the fact that many Americans preferred trash TV over presidential enlightenment. But the public's lack of interest in the SOTU is actually a sign of political health.
When all eyes turn to the president, demanding he cure whatever ails us, the result is a dangerous concentration of federal power. Thus, it's good that our national talk-show host suffers from declining Nielsens.
Early indications are that tomorrow, a chastened Obama may retreat into "small-ball," with a passel of tax credits and microprograms. Must-see TV this ain't, but a lessening of presidential ambition would be very good news.
Jimmy Carter was the last president to mail in his SOTU, in 1981. It's unlikely that Carter did that out of respect for Jeffersonian principles — he was a lame duck, worried that nobody wanted to hear him. Obama should keep that option in mind for next year.
“Lost is a silly show.”
Oh boy — that’ll warm folks up to the Cato Institute.
Ping
I’ll be tuning in to count the Bush bashes.
From Obama’s Twitter: Tomorrow OFA supporters will gather across the country to watch the State of the Union. Sign up for a #WatchParty near you http://bit.ly/a-H
I’d rather watch grass grow than listen to this bozo!
Enjoyed that read. Did not know the history of SOTU. I will not watch.
I’ll tune into FOX after he makes an ass of himself. He has absolutely no credibility.
Obama thinks the state of the union is about UAW.
A lousy speech is the only kind that a monumentally lousy president can deliver...and even those who have woven their unrealistic fantasies into his seductive lies are coming to recognize that fact.
He can give The State of Confusion on Sesame Street.
That way Big Bird can ask him some really hard questions.
The press pool won’t,
He can give The State of Confusion on Sesame Street.
That way Big Bird can ask him some really hard questions.
The press pool won’t,
He can give The State of Confusion on Sesame Street.
That way Big Bird can ask him some really hard questions.
The press pool won’t,
Those were obviously far humbler times.
Our current President is more likely to think the speech should be required viewing by every resident of the world, with numerous mandatory regular standing ovations.
Not far from the existing policy of Obama's political ally Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
I will not be watching, as any American with half a brain and common sense will be doing the same thing, not watching this anti-American, socialist, proven over & over again liar POTUS Barack Hussein Obama. Everything he utters is naught but lies, lies and more lies!!!! This guy does not have an ounce of honesty or loyalty in his entire being. I’ll be watching the history or military channels, a place where real Americans that love their country reside!!!!
If only some brave soul wil Yell out “YOU LIE” as did Joe Wilson, maybe this time from the gallary. Of course they will be excorted out, but so what, the damage was done. lol
I’m not a huge fan of Jefferson, but he was certainly right on this one.
I tuned him out from the get-go. He’s a liar!
No reason to turn it on, we all know the state, it stinks.
A caller on Rush show (Mark Steyn) today recommended laughing at him, instead.
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