President Barack Obama gave a non-State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress last night, predominantly about the current economic status of our country. I thought it was a good speech overall that walked a fine line between discussing difficult truths and cautious optimism. He called upon Washington politicians and the American people alike to embrace shared sacrifices and costly new programs to improve health care, schools and the environment. You can watch the speech below or you can read a full transcript here:
One of the most striking aspects of the speech of course was how weird it felt to have our president talk to us as if we are all intelligent, responsible adults rather than scolding us like insolent children. Republican governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal's rebuttal on behalf of his party was significantly less impressive. I got the feeling that he was trying to strike a conversational tone but in the end he just came off as if he was reading a storybook full of the same, tired Republican talking points to an elementary school class. One of my regular readers has posted a video that makes the point much better than my own description. If this guy is supposed to be one of their new up and comers he's really going to need to work on his message and oration a bit but in his defense an Obama speech is a tough act for anyone to follow.
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