My Elder Son was on his way home from school and listening to the speech as he drove. He came in and said, “this speech is reminding me of Chesterton’s dictum that
‘The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right.’”
I ended up surprising myself by live-blogging much of the speech, so you can read what I thought, there.
Mostly I thought Obama was less fluent that he had been on the campaign trail, and less dynamic or energetic. I also thought his speech was a rhetorically unlovely laundry list that went heavy on the cognitive dissonance, particularly when he talked about Washington, how Washington works, the “tone” and “finger-pointing,” and so forth. I felt like he was the only person in America who had not watched the past year of his presidency. Sorry, Mr. President, but you can’t keep campaigning as the “outsider” when you basically ARE Washington. “Everyday is not election day,” from the man who lives the permanent campaign.
I was also surprised at how perfunctory and almost disinterested he sounded about terrorism, and I was sorry he could not resist the urge to bash his predecessor, no matter how subtle he thought he was being. Also, I want to know what Justice Alito mouthed.
UPDATE ON THAT: Justice Alito mouthed, “not true” and Hot Air has the tape. Bradley A. Smith at NRO writes that the president was wrong on Citizens United v. FEC and ends: This is either blithering ignorance of the law, or demogoguery of the worst kind.
I wonder what Sonya Sotomayor thought of the Chief Executive “with all due deference” dissing the Judicial branch and inciting the Legislative Branch against it.
And you know, I still can’t believe that the guy who amassed more than $600 Million in campaign contributions (much of it from Wall Street, Evil Banks and Lobbyists) had the face to stand there and talk about campaign finance reform. I mean, again – BONG!!! – cognitive dissonance. Is this man totally disconnected from himself?
The full-text of the GOP response.
Other reactions:
Richard Fernandez: Translates
Instapundit has a long and thorough round-up of all the live-blogging – really you must go read it- including this bit:
Seems pretty much like a recycled campaign speech to me. And not just recycled campaign speech — the Cato folks note this:
“Through stricter accounting standards and tougher disclosure requirements, corporate America must be made more accountable to employees and shareholders and held to the highest standards of conduct.”
–George W. Bush, 2002 SOTUThey told me if I voted for John McCain we’d see a third Bush term. And they were right! [LATER: Tad DeHaven keeps running quotes from Bush SOTUs that match what Obama's saying tonight.]
Insty’s daughter says “it’s weird” how often Obama needs to mention Bush. Then there is this:
Reader Rob Lain emails:
Obama SOTU 2010 First Person Singular Pronoun Count = “I” – 96 times, “me” – 8 times.
Bush SOTU 2008 First Person Singular Pronoun Count = “I” – 39 times, “me” – 2 timesI dunno, but what’s funny is that I think Obama was restraining himself here . . . .
Jim Geraghty: On His Last Day in Office, Obama Will Still Be Talking About What He Inherited
You know, one could argue that President Bush “inherited” Al Qaeda from Bill Clinton, who did little-to-nothing in response to all of Al Qaeda’s provocations throughout the 1990’s and unto the USS Cole bombing. But never, not once, did Bush ever say, “I inherited this…” It’s time for Obama to become a man.
Obama’s head games
Kathryn Jean Lopez:
Perhaps he has learned belatedly that apologizing for America doesn’t fly. I wonder, too, if being commander in chief has affected him. How could it not? It may not translate into the right policies, but I think there is a little bit of a different Barack Obama because of that role he plays. At least rhetorically. There’s at least a little American exceptionalism salt on this speech.
NRO Editors: The speech was the STATIST Quo
The Race-Fixated Chris Matthews: “I forgot he was black for an hour…”. Whaaaa?
I forget it all the time. It doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t get the impression that it means much to Obama, himself. Why does it mean so much to Matthews? Maybe he’s just more aware and smarter than I am. It’s possible. Or, he is just channeling Harry Reid.
The US is ungovernable?
It was amazingly disconnected from the moment—treating and describing the public as downtrodden, depressed, but resilient, when the public mood seems more like fed up. . . . The Massachusetts election has certainly left the Democrats disoriented, and it showed tonight.
Was Obama warning Republicans?
A word cloud of Obama’s speech looks downright Bush-ian.
Randy Barnett, a Law Prof at Georgetown did not like Obama’s dig at the SCOTUS:
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 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.
I doubt any apology will be forthcoming, but that really was a stunning bit of theater put on by the president. And he was a constitutional law professor, wasn’t he? What a deplorable display.
Gateway has Palin and Hannity talking about it.
Obama writes to his donors: (paraphrase) You liked my speech? Send money!
Ed Driscoll: The Semiotics of the Anointed
NRO: Too many Obamas on display
Okay, off to bed. Tomorrow will be time enough to dissect! Goodnight.
January 28th, 2010 | 12:14 am | #1
[...] More from The Anchoress: [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 12:21 am | #2
The speech held more spin than my Maytag,
but that was no surprise. What was truly
jaw-dropping for me was his treatment of
the Supreme Court Justices. I still cannot
believe my eyes and ears. And that lecture
came from a man who drank deeply from the
well of corporate contributions …
January 28th, 2010 | 12:23 am | #3
I didn’t listen to the SOTU, but figured it would be a bunch of wonderful promises Obama wouldn’t keep, a bunch of smoke and mirrors to appear to be something he isn’t, a continued denigration of his predecessor and failure to accept any personal responsibility for anything (e.g. I’m above that stuff happening in Washington).
I’m glad I didn’t waste the time.
January 28th, 2010 | 12:24 am | #4
Anyone else think that President Obama seemed to be a bit too self-conscious about the politics of it all. Periodically he would sit back and smile at an applause line. To me, at least, he seemed to be amused by the whole silly process of the thing.
P.S. Disinterested does not mean uninterested. Not sure it’s proper to mention here, but I figure I may as well.
January 28th, 2010 | 12:38 am | #5
[...] lots of comments on it, read the Anchoress. I linked to her because she has the best quotation of the night: You know, one could argue that [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 12:38 am | #6
Good stuff. You need to correct your headline though: SOTU, not SCOTUS. Keith Olbermann would have a field day. [Thanks...working too fast -admin]
January 28th, 2010 | 12:44 am | #7
I think Yuval Levin’s observation is right on: Obama had better stop deluding himself, a la Jimmy Carter, that we are all depressed “but resilient.”
In reality we are all fed up with his brand of radical liberalism and huge government and reckless spending. He has been telling us that we are down for as long as I can remember. Americans do not like this; we’ve already been in a downward economic draft for 5 years and it’s enough. I think he will get thrown out on his ear in 2012.
He is a half-Harvard-educated egomaniac, so he will be more tone deaf to the public than Carter.
January 28th, 2010 | 12:53 am | #8
Behold, that which was old is new again:
I remember the “America is ungovernable” meme as apologetics for Jimmy Carter. Enlightened opinion decreed that the Presidency should be split in two, one for domestic affairs and one for foreign policy.
It took considerably longer than a year of Carter for that excuse to be fabricated.
Looking forward while looking back, I remember that we were supposed to reelect Carter because he supposedly had finally learned to govern. Sure, the first four years were disasters, but they were Carter’s on-the-job training. What a shame it would be to send him packing just as he is ready to do us proud…
January 28th, 2010 | 1:02 am | #9
Let’s be thankful that we now have an administration that enforces civil rights laws and fight employment discrimination. Barry said it. It must be true.
January 28th, 2010 | 1:26 am | #10
[...] She has a couple of posts up. The first includes her live time responses during the speech. Her second post includes mostly links to other responses. Be sure to check out her link “Justice Alito [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 3:24 am | #11
When he said “I DON’T QUIT!”, my husband raised his voice and replied, “We will make you quit!”
If the response in many other households was even remotely similar to this, we can safely say now that Obama can be called The One.
Yep. The One.
The One-Termer.
January 28th, 2010 | 5:59 am | #12
I was appalled at the treatment of the Justices f the Supreme Court. Good grief! Contrast the politness of the pro-life marchers with the in-your-face attitude of the POTUS.
I am doubling down on my prayers for the country.
January 28th, 2010 | 8:08 am | #13
I did not listen to it and in fact I just turned the morning news off because all they were doing was replaying it. I am tired of the sound of Obama’s voice, he just goes on and on. It feels as if he has been president forever.
And yes, he does need to be a man…and by the way, he did not just inherit this debt from Bush, he also inherited from the lady who was sitting behind him during that speech. Pelosi has been the one in charge of the purse strings for the last several years, why not call her out?
So no, I do not expect Obama to be a man, Bush was for all his faults a decent man. I am not sure I can say the same thing for Obama.
January 28th, 2010 | 9:10 am | #14
[...] stupid he thinks we are. He truly believes he can say anything, and we won’t recognize the cognitive dissonance, such as when he said that he was reaching out to the center, which was tired of hearing [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 11:25 am | #15
Yes, we all need to pray real hard for our country right now!
January 28th, 2010 | 11:28 am | #16
And his attack on the Supreme Court was downright creepy!
January 28th, 2010 | 1:14 pm | #17
[...] The Anchoress: UPDATE ON THAT: Justice Alito mouthed, “not true” and Hot Air has the tape. Bradley A. Smith at NRO writes that the president was wrong on Citizens United v. FEC and ends: This is either blithering ignorance of the law, or demogoguery of the worst kind. [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 1:19 pm | #18
Beyond the rudeness to the members of the Court, Obama actually lied about the holding of Citizens United when he claimed it would allow foreign corporations to contribute to political campaigns in this country. The two laws prohibiting such contributions and involvement were not affected.
January 28th, 2010 | 1:26 pm | #19
[...] not once, did Bush ever say, “I inherited this…” It’s time for Obama to become a man. — The AnchoressThis is beginning to look like the six beers and several shots presidency, where the voters eagerly [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 2:13 pm | #20
[...] SOTU Speech Reaction [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 2:51 pm | #21
Has he taken another page from Hugo Chavez’s book ?
Hugo thought himself quite clever when he attacked President Bush at the UN in such an idiotic way.
I think Obama thought that he was being quite clever last night also.In any discussion it is clear he could not touch the intellect of the justicices that he was demeaning in a very public way last night.
What a small little man he is.
January 28th, 2010 | 4:32 pm | #22
[...] The Anchoress – SOTU Speech Reaction [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 5:13 pm | #23
All I heard when he spoke last night was: bla, bla, bla, nag, nag, nag, lecture, lecture, lecture. He is such a bore. I have no idea why they say his speeches are magical. I’ve never felt the charm.
January 28th, 2010 | 7:46 pm | #24
Perhaps someone with the skill could draw this cartoon, wherein St. Peter asks Obama to account for (any) particulars, and in the thought balloon says “George Bush…”, but then sees him just past the gates and says, “Uh,er,uh..oops”. Or some other scenario. Heh.
January 28th, 2010 | 8:35 pm | #25
[...] a Stimulus Bill” Bob McCarty Writes: Oklahoma Senator Says Obama Best Liar Ever The Anchoress: SOTU Speech Reaction Rich Trzupek, Big Journalism: Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night Frugal [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 8:57 pm | #26
[...] a Stimulus Bill” Bob McCarty Writes: Oklahoma Senator Says Obama Best Liar Ever The Anchoress: SOTU Speech Reaction Bob Barr, Atlanta Journal Constitution: Obama insults Supreme Court with uncivil remarks Rich [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 9:27 pm | #27
[...] our current president vocally, candidly and not since Andrew Jackson oh so petulantly lambasted—in a forum no less important than the State Of The Union address—the SCOTUS for the Citizens [...]
January 28th, 2010 | 11:14 pm | #28
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Anchoress, The Anchoress, Flo Johnson, Flo Johnson, Flo Johnson and others. Flo Johnson said: SCOTUS Speech Reaction from The Anchoress: http://bit.ly/dwAVg5 via @addthis [...]
January 29th, 2010 | 11:45 am | #29
[...] the Blame Game Begin Bob McCarty Writes: Oklahoma Senator Says Obama Best Liar Ever The Anchoress: SOTU Speech Reaction Rich Trzupek, Big Journalism: Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night Frugal [...]
February 2nd, 2010 | 4:19 pm | #30
[...] Ultimate Arrogance Bob McCarty Writes: Oklahoma Senator Says Obama Best Liar Ever The Anchoress: SOTU Speech Reaction Rich Trzupek, Big Journalism: Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night Frugal [...]
February 3rd, 2010 | 3:55 pm | #31
[...] Ultimate Arrogance Bob McCarty Writes: Oklahoma Senator Says Obama Best Liar Ever The Anchoress: SOTU Speech Reaction Rich Trzupek, Big Journalism: Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night Frugal [...]
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