Reflections on the SOTU

Part I. John Boehner seemed oddly uncomfortable throughout the speech. He didn't fit his new clothes as Speaker of the House, and certainly didn't resemble someone riding a wave of change. He looked liked he'd eaten something sour. I wonder what this means for the work of this Congress.

Part II. President Reagan's idea in 1982 to honor ordinary heroes at the SOTU was brilliant. I love watching the people who sit with the First Lady; Tuesday night was no exception. They're the only ones in the room who look like the rest of us and seem to have a clue of what living in this country is really like. Especially wonderful was the woman from Forsyth County, North Carolina, who has returned to school to pursue a degree in biotechnology. When President Obama began speaking about her, she turned to those around her and said, "That's me! That's me!"

Pure spontaneity is not what these speeches are about.

Part III. The long, thunderous applause for our troops disturbed me, not because they don't deserve it. They do. But the applause was like the bumper stickers that say "Support our Troops"; these feel like lip service paid to people who give up their lives in ways that the rest of us can't imagine and aren't called on to do. We're not even asked to pay more to support their work. All we need to do is clap every so often and all will be well.

Part IV. I was glad to see President Obama dispel the arrogant notion of American exceptionalism without giving up on American idealism. Finally someone told us from the top what we need to hear: China is now home to the world's fastest computer, South Koreans have greater internet access than we do, our own engineers give our infrastructure a "D," and we have sunk to 9th place in the percentage of college degrees held. So much for an America that's better than the rest of the world.

Yet the President reminded us at the same time that "we are the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook." He called this our Sputnik moment and challenged us to do better. I liked his message. We may have talents as a nation, but these aren't automatically handed to us. We need to work hard and to think imaginatively to reclaim a special place in the world.

Part V. Nobody called out, "You lie." Maybe we're moving, gradually, to a better place.

The Court Jester

Walter Berglund, the frustrated environmentalist in Jonathan Franzen's novel Freedom, captures America today when his anger finally erupts: "This fragmentation . . . it's the same problem everywhere. It's like the internet, or cable TV--there's never any center, there's no communal agreement, there's just a trillion little bits of distracting noise. We can never sit down and have any kind of sustained conversation . . . All the real things, the authentic things, the honest things are dying off. Intellectually and culturally, we just bounce around like random billiard balls, reacting to the latest random stimuli."

How depressing, and how true. Examples of distracting noise abound--most recently in the mid-term elections, awash with dishonesty and inanity.

Enter Jon Stewart, comedian and host of The Daily Show. If you missed his interview with Rachel Maddow, watch it. Finally, two people in sustained conversation.

Stewart gives me hope. He exposes the noise of round-the-clock cable news for what it is: divisive and polarizing and distracting. He calls out red and blue activists alike for failing to tackle corruption and dishonesty. And he does so with humor and self awareness.

Jon Stewart for president? Not yet. But a lot of people producing politics and news could learn from him. He understands and articulates better than most the direction we need to go.

Take heed, all of us, of the comedian in our midst. He's a gem of a court jester, and we'd do well not just to laugh, but also to listen.

HELP!

Dear Abby,
I’m getting so much advice I don’t know where to turn. You’re my last hope. Talking heads everywhere are telling me what to do. I need to emote, I need to connect, I need to compromise, I need to lead.

It’s tough running a country with a bunch of know-it-alls. Even Sasha told me I ought to jog through the Mall or stop more often for Big Macs.

What’s a president to do?

Unaudaciously yours,
Barack O

Dear Barack O,
I know how you feel. Every time I give advice, I get letters the next day telling me how wrong I was. “Give that husband another chance?” they write. “No way.” You can’t win.

I take it by your name that you’re running the good old U. S. of A. Too bad for you. They’re a bad bunch, spoiled by years of free speech. But don’t let them get you down.

Here’s an idea. Wipe away a few tears every now and then, like that new Speaker you’ve got. Choke up when you talk about the American dream or when you see children saluting the flag. It’ll work every time.

In the meantime, don’t worry. Your people have short attention spans. They’ll soon be talking about the next American Idol and won’t remember a thing about you.

LOL,
Abby

The Ice Man Speaketh

Following President Obama’s press conference yesterday, news analysts on NPR highlighted the President’s lack of emotion. Talking heads on MSNBC did the same. Why does this trait of Obama’s—his ability to remain calm no matter what—bother the press so much?

In response to one reporter’s question—“When you call your friends . . . and you see the Democratic Party set back, what does it feel like?”—President Obama replied, “It feels bad.”

A reasonable answer, I thought.

But this wasn’t good enough for NPR’s news analysts. It actually made them chuckle. Obama’s supposed lack of emotion translates into a flaw. He doesn’t care, he doesn’t get it—these are the charges against him.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather put my trust in the man who thinks under pressure and remains steadfast in his outlook . . . rather than our blubbering new House Speaker weeping over his weary childhood. We don’t need emotion at the top. We need courage and leadership.

I hope President Obama can summons these traits as a response to the “shellacking” he got yesterday, rather than focus on some misguided need to change his style. And fewer tears from John Boehner would be welcomed as well; he’s got work to do, and it’s time to replace the floors he mopped at his father’s tavern with the jobs Americans need to get back to work.