Why Watch the SOTU?
Seriously — why does anyone cover the SOTU? They are nothing more than campaign speeches that have a tenuous, if that, connection to policy. Remember when Bush promised to go to Mars in a SOTU? Yeah, well, apparently neither does Bush. I cannot remember the last SOTU I watched – -it literally might have been the last one given by the first Bush. Anything important will be in the news the next morning, and Presidents hardly need the SOTU to get attention for new policies.
More importantly, SOTU speeches don’t really give the state of the union. They are filled with happy talk and platitudes, and very, very little in the way of solid numbers about the state of the union. I think it would be more edifying to force the President to present a detailed written report comparing the state of the union in various statistical categories as compared to the previous year and the first year of the Administration. By covering these tightly choreographed commercials as if they were serious news, the media yet again has passed up an opportunity to force politicians to provide useful information, not just spin.
Early in Dubya’s first term I decided that the only speech I ever want to actually watch Bush deliver is one that contains the sentence: “I hereby resign the office of President of the United States.”
Until then, I can find much better uses of my time. Like watching a couple flies f*ck.
Yeah, a few quality hours of Battlefront II on my X-box just seemed to be more fun.
Bush, ” Well, the first couple of years were pretty good. Last year had a few problems, though. All in all, everythings great. Don’t worry, but be afraid, be very afraid.”
Blogging Kevins
I think it was Kevin Drum who started it, and then Kevin Aylward and Kevin McGhee picked it up, and after several years I figured I might as well give Blogging Kevins a try. Only one problem – there are…