Well, I’m not all that surprised at the reactions – if you are on the Left, this was (at least, spoken out loud) equal to sliced bread. On the Right, not so much. I took it to be rather long, disjointed, and at the end, wondering about his speech writers. Of course, TOTUS is starting to become a bore and given the ubiquity of it everywhere, I think most have come to the conclusion that he can’t give a cogent speech without it. I guess we can just think of it as the equivalent of his binky, blanket, or Amex card – for all ages (as we found out with our kids), one should never leave home without them.
All that said, what it really comes down to is how did the operator / Talent / President do? During the campaign, he always seemed to keep his cool. Last night, though, he had another "face" – one that was more biting, more angry; like a father dressing down recalcitrant kids, or a teacher trying to maintain control over a classroom full of class clowns. In other words, someone trying to fight to maintain (or regain) control of the situation.
Much of it was standard fare, but on more occasions than necessary, rather than sounding and being Presidential, he came off as being simply petty. Or what he really is: a Community Organizer – which really showed last night. A C.O. needs an enemy to focus on, to ridicule, to make hay against, and thus, have a target to rally his troops to attack.
Problem is, he’s trying to pit Congress and Senate and the Supreme Court all against each other while still doing what a C.O. does which is remain in the background and keep his troops in front of him.
Problem is, it is hard to be in that background when you are the President at the State of the Union address. And that presented the problem to Obama, as he can be a campaigner, he can be a C.O., but seemingly is having more and more problems in being successful at what he is being paid to do: be President. And last night, it showed. And I’m not the only one:
Jules Crittenden: “But seriously, we have just witnessed an extraordinary exercise in presidential oratorical animation that may be without peer or precedent. Can it be said that any American president has ever tried to blame so much on other people, or has been willing to so rapidly abandon his own principles for the betterment of his standing with the people, to seize up the banner against himself in our nation’s time of need, that this nation should not stand against him? For this, the president deserves our unabashed, gaga-eyed astonishment.”
John Podhoretz: “One liberal trope after the speech, voiced by Chrystia Freedland of the Financial Times on Charlie Rose, is that Obama is putting Republican politicians on notice he will go after them as the do-nothing impeders of progress. Republicans should pray this is the case, and it may be the case.” In New Jersey, Virginia, and Massachusetts he’s proven impotent. Why should people fear him more now, when he’s weaker?
Prof. Randy Barnett: In the history of the State of the Union has any President ever called out the Supreme Court by name, and egged on the Congress to jeer a Supreme Court decision, while the Justices were seated politely before him surrounded by hundreds [of] Congressmen? To call upon the Congress to countermand (somehow) by statute a constitutional decision, indeed a decision applying the First Amendment? What can this possibly accomplish besides alienating Justice Kennedy who wrote the opinion being attacked. Contrary to what we heard during the last administration, the Court may certainly be the object of presidential criticism without posing any threat to its independence. But this was a truly shocking lack of decorum and disrespect towards the Supreme Court for which an apology is in order. A new tone indeed.
and the most devastating: Meryl Yourish
Tonight, he addressed the American people, and he addressed Congress. Go back and look at the speech. He was earnest, and his chin was down, his head relatively level, when speaking to Congress. When he spoke to us, his chin rose, and he talked down to us—literally.
Go ahead. Take a look. Note his posture. You’ll see it, too. You and I, we are not his equals. He is above us.
That’s what sets my teeth on edge every time I listen to him.
(H/T: Instapundit)
Problem is