If I Were President I Wouldn't Give a State of the Union Speech

The Constitution requires the president to give an annual report on the state of the Union to Congress, but doesn't require a televised speech complete with the jack-in-the-box moments where one side cheers and jumps to their feet while the other glumly stares ahead while sitting on their hands.  The whole thing is a joke and not worthy of my time to watch it.  And if I were president I wouldn't give a SOTU speech - I'd just send them a memo and stay at the White House and watch something on the History Channel.

What do you think will be the first thing the commentators will discuss when the speech is over?  They'll talk about how many times the speech was "interrupted" by applause.  In fact, none of those applause points will be interruptions - they're built into the speech and fully expected by everyone there.  It's all a charade.  Most of the congressmen will have received the speech in advance, so it's not like they're reacting after hearing the words for the first time.

A bunch of congressmen will once again make a silly point by sitting intermingled with members from the other party.  This says more about the fact that the two parties are often indistinguishable than it says about bipartisanship.  I'm not interested in a Congress where everyone gets along, I want a Congress where Republican fight for conservative values even if it means ticking off the Democrats and losing friendships.

And let's not kid ourselves, tonight's speech will not be so much about the State of the Union as it will be about the State of Obama's campaign.  This will be a campaign speech, full of rhetoric designed to appeal to certain voter groups and to demean Republicans and their policies.  The fact that Warren Buffett's secretary will be sitting with the First Lady tells you all  you need to know about the desired outcome of this speech.  It will be class warfare 101.  She'll undoubtedly be pointed out, and it wouldn't surprise me if her tax rate is compared to Mitt Romney's rather than her boss's.

I also hear that Obama will call for America to "return to its roots of economic fairness".  Baloney.  America has never been about economic fairness, it's been about economic opportunity.  What you did with the opportunity was up to you, but never have equality of outcomes been guaranteed, nor should they.  To Obama fairness is 47% of wage earners paying ZERO income tax while the entire burden is borne by the other 53%.  I'm not interested in that kind of "fairness".

Good thing I have some shows ready on TiVO.