We've never done this before. A little music while we wait.
6:05 PDST:
Interesting that ABC touts this as the SOTU, "And The Republican Response". Guess that's 'equal time'. I'm on CBS.
Okay; the President has been announced. He's making his way down the aisle, and appears on his game: Confident, a little jocular, laughing (the way you do when you have a little nervous energy to burn).
6:10 PDST:
Scott Peley and CBS's White House Correspondent, Bob Schaeffer, note that Supreme Court Justices Alito, Thomas and Scalia are absent. They're such nice people; we wish everything for them that they wish for Obama. And more.
6:12 PDST:
Obama has reached the podium. Leading with the return of soldiers from Iraq. "We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made America safer and more respected around the world..." Leading with national security and defense issues. Subtext: Don't come at me, or the Democratic party, from that direction.
"Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their examples.... We can do this! I know we've done it, because we've done it before."
6:19 PDST:
A few making it well, the rest not getting by so well; "all must play by the same rules", and almost everyone in the room applauds. Even the Rethugs. Interesting.
The Financial Crisis: "It was wrong -- it was irresponsible... and left hard-working Americans holding the bag."
6:25 PDST:
'I will fight obstructionism and the failed policies that got us in this predicament in the first place'. Where it begins, he says, is American manufacturing -- not sure about that, given how globalization has changed the face of how business is conducted. Unless we can offer corporate business an advantage by investing in America, not sure how that can happen.
Oh, I see: "We can't bring back every job that's left our shores... it's more expensive to do business [these days] in China." Ask how you can bring back jobs to America and the government will help you.
American businesses here are hit by bad tax rate (Uh-Oh). If you outsource, you shouldn't get a tax break; multinationals should pay a fair tax, and advantages go to those who hire in America (Ruh-Roh). Well, this sounds nice...
"Send me these tax reforms, and I will sign them". Good luck with that; President Boner keeps scratching his face. He has a disease? He can't stay still?
6:30 PDST:
We've brought trade issues with China at twice the rate as [Lil' Boots Bush], he says, and Obama announces a new regulatory unit to cover intellectual and product safety issues with China. That's fine, but they won't love hearing that.
6:38 PDST:
Teachers. Cut the deadwood; don't teach to the test. A proposal that in every state, teenagers stay in school by law until they graduate or turn 18. States need to make higher education a priority in their budgets, and "higher education is not a luxury".
"We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform, right now." The Rethugs won't stand up for that.
"Women should have equal pay for equal work". Yeah; everybody better stand up for that and applaud; isn't that supposed to be a reality already?
President Boner looks like he has gas; his eyes keep darting back and forth. President Yertle The Turtle has a tiny, tiny smile on his tiny, smooth face.
Don't lose the race for the future. Make more energy! We have natural gas! We can safely develop it. Hundreds of thousands of jobs. We don't have to choose between our economy and our environment. Fracking = good.
6:45 PDST:
"We've subsidized oil companies for generations."
No reason Congress can't set clean energy standards? Sure there are. There are 200-plus of them in the House and forty-plus in the Senate. "Send me a bill to create these jobs."
Now, infrastructure: "During the Great Depression, America built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge... take the money we are no longer spending at war, and use some of it to do some nation-building right here at home."
6:50 PDST:
It's time to have a nation of accountability. We need smart regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior (Uncertain Applause), which will strengthen the financial system. "No bailouts, no handouts, no cop outs".
And a very bad joke about oil and spilled milk.
And, I will not back down from protecting our water and air; I will not go back to the bad old days of health insurance coverage, and where Wall Street plays by its own rules. If you're a bank, you can't play with depositors' and investors' monies in the Big Casino any more.
Pass legislation to prosecute fraud; send me the bill -- the Justice Department is going to investigate the packaging and selling of bad home loans (Hey Angelo! You got a problem!)
"Pass the payroll tax cut without delay." And Little Eric Cantor politely applauds.
Obligatory Cute Small Animal Photo Smack In Middle Of State Of Union
6:59 PDST:
A quarter of all millionaires paid less taxes than millions of American households. Doe we want the Bush tax cuts, or everything else? Because if we want to pay down the debt, we can't have Lil' Boots and things for The People.
The American people know what the right thing to do is. You can call this class welfare all you want. The American Dream is not because we envy the rich, but because we believe we can be like them.
America, built to last, is not one where there is no shared sacrifice.
7:05 PDST:
Ahh, Congress. And President Boner wipes his nose again.
None of this can happen unless we lower the temperature in this town. Politics shouldn't be about mutual destruction. Even though Obama has already been slapped and stepped on by the Rethugs time and again, he's still (publicly, anyway) extending an olive branch.
"We should all want a smarter, more effective government... because together, there's nothing the United States of America can't achieve."
7:10 PDST:
And now, the Arab Spring is mentioned. Ghaddafi Duck is dead, and human dignity in Syria cannot be denied (Oh, cannot it? Ask folks in Hom 'bout that).
Tyranny is no match for liberty. America will take no options off the table in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but "there is still an opportunity for a peaceful settlement" -- the best way, but we have never been closer to Israel.
"Anyone who says that America... has waned, they don't know what they're talking about... America remains the one, indispensable nation in world affairs, and... I intend to keep it that way."
7:16 PDST:
Man; President Boner is just Buzz Killington tonight. Maybe he'll cry. It's Republican credibility!
Those of us have been sent here to serve can learn... from our troops. When you put on the uniform, it doesn't matter if you're" whatever you are. "You fight for the people beside you; you rise and fall as one unit -- one nation".
When we nailed bin Laden, no one thought about differences, just the mission. The SEALs succeded because everyone on the team trusted each other... "So it is with America."
This nation is great because we built it together.. because we built it as a team... as long as we maintain our common purpose...
A real, solid close.
7:20 PDST:
ABC reports that before the speech, Vice-President Biden told a roomful of Democrats that the speech, in essence, was "bin Laden is dead; General Motors is alive".
Peggy Noonan, a Reagan and Bush Republican: Speech was too long; why is he talking about all this stuff he should've been talking about in the past three years?
CBS reports that Obama is defining the election about the road ahead, while the Rethugs want it to be a referendum on his Presidency. Mitch Daniels, Republican Governor of the Grrrrrreaat State of Indiana, will deliver the Rethug response.
7:23 PDST:
Cut to commercial! And who gives a damn what Fox is saying. Not surprised if they ran audio of the speech while showing a crudely-drawn caricature of an African-American man on video -- The sort of thing that warms the heart of Crafty Ol' Aussie Little Rupert.
7:29 PDST:
Mitch Daniels, with his faint Southern accent.
Thanks for killing bin Laden, and the President is a good family man. However, the last three years have been horrifying and he's responsible.
Trillions added to the national debt (oh, give it up; 42% of all increases in the Debt since 2000 came from Lil' Boots Bush. Talk to the CBO). As Republicans, let us compare America's financial situation to Greece and Yurp, even though our economic systems are completely different.
We talk tonight to Americans who want to do better by offering "a private economy" as the solution. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Be pro-growth, private sector jobs for everyone!
Fewer tax rates! Don't penalize "job creators"! Energy extremists are bad!
We must save Medicare and Social Security, but we have to build all new programs! The dollars need to go to those who need them most (seniors who can vote for Newt), but in future we need better ways!
We're not obstacles; we're victims of the President and his Democratic allies (yes, Mitch actually used the word "Democratic", not "Democrat")! If we fail to go to a pro-growth government, it will be bad.
Republicans aren't divisive; we're not obstructionists -- all you have to do is agree with us, do what we want, and we'll just ignore you! Better than if we pay attention to you.
7:40 PDST:
The Democrats claime we can't govern ourselves -- the Democrats are dividing us! We must strike out boldly that America is still the land of
"Nothing mature and freeborn citizens cannot set right... the city shining on a hill". What in the utter fuck is he talking about -- "mature and freeborn"??
Thank you, and Good Night.
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