Even though people from both sides of the aisle eagerly anticipated the State of the Union, it was not the only speech given by President Obama last week. He also spoke to the Republican party in a televised address. Both speeches struck a chord and hopefully set the tone for what we’re going to see happening in Washington in the year ahead as the president laid out his plans for the coming year, setting a tone for both members of his own party and the GOP as well as the media. The distinctive tone of both speeches was that of annoyance.
Obama lay out the accomplishments of the past year and owned up to the things that hadn’t worked out as well. He made a point to remind the GOP that most of the country’s problems were inherited by the previous administration, and he also came down on his own party for running for the hills as well as reminding them that they still had the majority in Congress and should be getting more done. He also accused the media of encouraging the American people lose faith while calling for more bipartisanship on both sides.
Reactions to the State of the Union from political pundits and mainstream media were pretty much as expected. Fox news said the speech wasn’t enough while MSNBC swooned. There were no surprises in the reactions from the usual suspects, which proves the point made by the president. The media is so quick to tear down or defend whatever their chosen political affiliation (objective reporting appears to be a thing of the past) that Americans seem to be caught up in opinions being delivered as facts, which results in punditry being broadcast as news reporting.
Obama made it hard for punditry to break down his speech a few days after the State of the Union at the Annual Republican Retreat. Having the president speak at this yearly retreat is normal, but having a televised, unscripted Question and Answer session was groundbreaking.
During the session, Obama answered some tough questions and posed some tough comments on the GOP. He mentioned that the incessant broadcast of Republicans' talking points during campaigns make it all but impossible for bipartisan collaboration after elections.
President Obama’s State of the Union and his speech at the Republican Retreat did not magically wave a magic wand over Washington D.C. What these speeches did do, hopefully, was pull American people a little further away from the political dramatics that we are inundated with on a regular basis. Hopefully people who label themselves as both Republican and Democrat will get a better idea of how much plugging our ears and refusing to listen to anything the other side has to say held us back.
If anything is a true danger to this country, it is not terrorism, crime, unemployment, or the economy, but the partisan politics that is enabled by the media and prevents any real work from being done.
I mentioned earlier that the president seemed annoyed in both speeches. I can’t blame him.
