The State of the Union for 2013 is now another part of history, or at least it should be. While a well-delivered piece of political rhetoric, it wasn't a particularly ground-breaking or inspirational bit of speech writing. Now for those of you who would like to pick the nits for a bit more, I have a recent column in the Toledo Free Press in which we can do it together here. For the rest of us: as the old Chad and Jeremy song from 1962 says, "That was yesterday, and yesterday's gone".
Before we leave it completely however, I would like to touch on some of the lighter bits that I noticed during the days during which it was broadcast. (What, it was only a little over an hour? You've got to be kidding me!)
- Would somebody please disconnect the APPLAUSE sign and stop treating the SOTU like a puppet show. If this is as an important as they would like to make us think it is, they need to treat this speech like a school awards banquet where everybody is told to hold their applause until the end. Not only would this take the pressure off the speechwriters to produce so many of the spontaneous 'scripted' moments required in good theater, but it would avoid those awkward moments when the audience stops paying attention and either jumps the gun or misses their cue to clap. It would also stop making this gathering of the nation's leaders not look like they were bobbing up and down like a talent night puppet show.
- VP Joe Biden seemed awfully pre-occupied with some paperwork during the speech. Oh, he managed to applaud whenever the little light came on, but it sure looked like he was checking over his tax returns or catching up on some briefing notes instead of listening to the boss right in front of him.
- Speaking of the guys behind, John Boehner had a look on his face that made it appear as if he hadn't had a bowel movement recently. The other thing apparent was that a guy that represents Ohio and works in Washington DC looked like he was sporting far more melanin than he had any right to. Fortunately, John's making pretty good money as Speaker, so I'm sure he can probably afford the new Obamacare taxes involved with tanning booths.
- I noticed that the Supreme Court was in attendance again this year, though not all of them. The President didn't call them out this year, so the cameras didn't spend much time focusing on them during the speech. They did pan across at one point late in the effort however, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg looked to be 'chin on chest' and down for the count. Justice Breyer sitting next to her likewise seemed to be doing a chainsaw imitation, so he wasn't going to be able to help her. Then again, most of the Justices are no longer kids, so being out after 9PM EDT is probably way past their bed time.
- OK, I get the fact that Senator Mark Rubio needed a drink of water while delivering the Republican response and had to reach well off-camera to grab a bottle of water while suffering from dry mouth; somewhat spoiling his performance. Many saw this as a chink in his armor. I saw it as a Republican who was working with Union stage hands who wouldn't give a member of the party of evil a drink if they were dying in the desert, but wouldn't mind making one look foolish by placing a drink just out of reach.
- The beginning of the SOTU is a fairly well orchestrated bit of pomp and circumstance. The Sergeant at Arms makes the introduction and the President walks down the aisle to the podium, shaking a few notable hands and exchanging greetings on his way; in a bit of ceremony well worth following with the cameras in the room. The President's exit however, breaks down in a series of handshakes and autographs that cheapens much of what has gone before. Giving an hour long speech is tiring, doing it in front of a jaded audience is even more so. Having to hang around and sign programs like the paid talent at a baseball convention makes it downright silly. I think that they either need to turn the cameras aways and spare the President, or tell the Secret Service they need to put on their dark sunglasses and remind the crowd that they've got guns and aren't afraid to use them. Let's get POTUS out of the room and let him have the drink he probably needs by then.
- You know what, let's just go back to the days of Thomas Jefferson, who simply had a written form of the SOTU delivered to the members of both Houses. Not only would it eliminate all of the issues previously listed, but it would keep from messing with the mid-week television schedule.
A good crisis shouldn't go to waste, so it was of little surprise that the White House used the opportunity to put forth an attempt at Gun Control. As voices around the nation cry out that "There Ought to be a Law",
few have bothered to discover that there are already some 20,000 laws on the books regarding guns that didn't manage to prevent Sandy Hook. Fewer still have read the Department of Justice report that ten years of a Assault Weapons Ban had no impact on the number of the 'multiple murders' committed, that most of the murders committed were with hand guns, or that many of the cities with the most restrictive gun laws have the highest murder rates with guns. (I know, these are just silly little details that don't go with the predominant narrative.)
Fortunately, there will be far more and far more cheerful narrative in this weekend's TFP. There will likewise be plenty of pesky little facts and some narrative from both sides of the aisle that you might not only find factual, but interesting as well.
The again, what would you expect from Toledo's largest circulation Sunday and Ohio's best newspaper for the last four years ... The Toledo Free Press.
It's sometimes amazing how you can barely get the thoughts in your head on a page fast enough (especially when it's my head we're talking about), and at other times the well seems to become more parched than it's been in Kansas this summer. This isn't to say that there's nothing going on, just nothing that seems worthy of working up a good rant over. Besides, I haven't attempted to do a bit of catching up in a while, and another 'Silly Bits' certainly allows me to. Of course nothings exemplifies the concept of 'Silly Bits' more in the upcoming election season than one mentioning the hijinks of a couple of the local political candidates.
Todd Akin probably has to top the list, being both by a Republican Senate candidate (from Missouri and not Kansas, thank goodness) and for his recent rape / abortion comments. Forget whether this narrow-minded cretin can now win an election or not. This is no longer about the courage of one's convictions as much as it's about someone being too stupid to hold public office (or perhaps even a sharp object). I know that the jackass is the symbol of his opposition's party, but it would be hard to prove it after seeing someone seeking office in the more deliberative branch of the legislature leaping into a minefield of his own creation with his 'legitimate rape' and 'a woman's body shutting down' comments. Akin no longer appears to have any friends in the Republican Party (or funding from it), and even the 'cross-over' Democratic support he got in the primary seems to have evaporated (Democratic groups even supported him financially). His refusal to withdraw his bid could hand Claire McCaskill her much-in-jeopardy seat back with a pretty bow tied on it, in spite of her own image problems (Hmmmm ....). It's too bad Chuck Barris of "Gong Show" fame isn't still around to give this guy the big hook.
On the Kansas side and largely over-shadowed by candidate Akin, we had freshman Congressman Kevin Yoder's apparently alcohol-fueled behavioral lapse coming out in the last week. It seems that last August after a number of first-time national legislators were over-served in hotel along the Sea of Galilee while on an all expenses paid junket, Rep. Yoder was among seven who decided to take a little late night swim. While apparently a decent enough swimmer, the lack of swimming apparel was troubling enough to earn the seven a stern lecture from den mothers Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy (the second and third highest ranking Republican members).
Personally, I'm shocked ... shocked I tell you; to discover that members of our national legislature indulge in intoxicating beverages while on all expenses paid junkets. I am shocked still more that they would indulge in these unseemly late night freshmen fraternity antics, none of which involved Congressional pages, hookers, or even illegal drugs or gambling. Most especially, I'm shocked that something that occurred a year ago is only now (less than 80 days before the election) coming to light in the mainstream media. It seems incredible that a government that can't keep a foreign policy secrets for as long as it takes to cook a Quarter Pounder with cheese can manage to keep the lid on this one until it might have some impact on the election. I have yet to see any art on the event (evidently no one's cell phones were working), but there's still time before we vote. If I see anything, I post it for you. I'm reminded that one of my distant relatives, John Quincy Adams, used to skinny dip in the Potomac while President (scary if you've ever seen a picture of him); something I believe would require a great deal more courage than intelligence these days.
(This also inevitably reminded me of a great Lyndon B Johnson quote: "If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: President Can't Swim.")
Of course no discussion of candidate news would be complete without that of Vice Presidents. It started over Republican Mitt Romney's 'risky' choice of Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his potential VP. You know, someone's going to have to redefine 'risky' for me. In an election that the Republicans have been saying for some time is all about the economy and the budget, why would it be a bad idea to pick someone who has been focusing on it since he came to Congress? You may not like his ideas (and I'm not sure I do), calling them either 'too soft' or 'too draconian', but it's hard to dispute that the man can argue his case with logic, reason, and passion; with the facts to back up his arguments at his fingertips. The fact that he's a good looking, apparently likeable guy who looks good in slacks and a golf shirt probably doesn't hurt him by comparison either.
Speaking of comparison, we certainly can't look at VP's without giving a shout out to the Joe Biden gaffe fest. It's seems amusing to me that in an election when so many are comparing President Obama's first term to that of Jimmy Carter, that more haven't jumped on the Dan Quayle bandwagon where Joe is concerned. We all know the recent list of faux pas by the current second-in-command, so I won't repeat them; but did you know that things have gotten so bad that the Los Angeles Times recently reported that the White House no longer provides transcripts from 'Jokin' Joe's' events. If this keeps up, they're going to have to hold a daily press conference to translate what VP Biden was trying to say around the foot perpetually stuck in his pie hole.
So perhaps we can end the silliness today by paraphrasing an ad campaign from 2008's Democratic presidential primary:
'If the phone rings on 34th Street and Massachusetts Avenue (where the VP lives on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory) at 3 AM to tell it's occupant that the President of the United States is dead, who would you rather take the call before taking the helm of the nation?'
