THE STATE OF THE UNION IS NO LONGER "JUSTIFIED"

The annual State of the Union Address or SOTU has become a ghastly affair.  It makes buffoons out of our elected officials and makes the television viewers at home long for a pageant at least as dignified and solemn as the Grammy's...which should not be an impossibly high standard.   Hey... Jay-Z and Beyonce at the 2015 SOTU...now that's a thought.   After that we could have the "Cirque du Soleil's" production of "Potomac Fantasia" complete with acrobats, clowns, and people breathing fire. I mean If you are not going to talk substance... then bread and circuses are all that's left.

Thomas Jefferson refused to make the pilgrimage to the hill because he understood he was a co-equal branch of government.  Instead he sent a written epistle and for 100 years his successors wisely did the same until the autocratic Woodrow Wilson decided to use the occasion  as an opportunity to try and make the Executive Branch not co-equal but a superior branch of government.

Today the SOTU has become a festival of words unaccompanied by either action or facts.  It is a stage where the actors on the stage often loath each other but when on camera take every opportunity to kiss, hug or embrace one another as if they hadn't seen each other in weeks.

Barack Obama's fifth SOTU was an unexceptional and graceless affair until the very end when he paid tribute to wounded warrior Ranger Sgt. Cory Remsburg who was horribly wounded during his 10th deployment to Afghanistan. The sustained applause for this brave man was the only genuine  moment of the evening and the President is to be commended for including this and at least ending a dreary event on a high note. 

 

But even this does not soften the valid criticism from others that Obama was using the gallant soldier as a human prop for a war that he, Obama,  does not support according to the memoirs of former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.  Further, an even more valid criticism is the inappropriateness of using Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both apolitical institutions, as props for an event that has degenerated into  almost 100% partisan political stagecraft. 

Notwithstanding the end of the address, the beginning and middle consisted of a stultifying list of "This is what I'm going to do in 2014...the year of action"  which begs the question that Charles Krauthammer asked, " what were the other years... years of inaction"?  Obama vowed to the Congress and the nation that he would act alone if necessary to move his agenda forward and then proceeded to resurrect  a list of items he's been promising for five years repackaged as  wars against income inequality, discrimination against women, climate change and new sanctions against Iran.

The SOTU is a "Listomania" on steroids. It is a duplicit exercise of promises never meant to be kept or ones which can't be met .  In either event it has become a principal exhibit of how politicians lie and think we are stupid enough to believe them if they talk pretty enough.  Again the SOTU makes one think about starting a new reality show around the event called "Real Lying Politicians of the Beltway" or "Dumb  Dynasty".

One episode could have Nancy Pelosi's head spinning around like Linda Blair in the "Exorcist" while she says in a deep, guttural voice"once we pass it we'll know what's in it".  Bring back "Bubba" and throw in some sex and you would have both ratings and an audience which you didn't have this year with only 11% of the country watching.  C'mon even MSNBC does slightly better and that's scary.

 

The SOTU is not supposed to be a political pep rally.  The President is supposed to report to the people about what the true State of the Union is ...warts and all.  If it doesn't do this then what good is it?

 We were bored and misled for 48 minutes by what many pundits are describing as "Small Ball" or a wish list so insignificant with regard to the horrid state of our country as to be insulting.  It was in addition a compendium of achievements which in fact either were wholly or partially untrue or which could not be honestly credited to the 44th President.  But keep in mind Chris Matthews thought the speech "Majestic"!  I so wish that I could be his personal Pharmacist!

One dirty little secret that emerged re-energized from this years spectacle is the growing number of Democrats who truly dislike this President and will say so privately but not publicly...at least not yet!  This dislike has roots deeper than the debacle of "ObamaCare".   Obama has been an aloof and imperious Executive, uncomfortable or unwilling to compromise or cooperate with his own party as well as Republicans.  The man is a community organizer and community organizers do not break bread with the enemy and the enemy  in this instance is the Constitution which contains other branches of government which regardless of party does not or should not bend to one man will.

 

In addition he is a man with few close friends.  Count them... Valerie Jarrett... Michelle... Valerie Jarrett... The PM of Denmark,the very hot Helle Thorning-Schmidt ... Valerie Jarrett,.. Eric Holder... Valerie Jarrett and the two  private contract  black Ops  commandos hired to safeguard his college transcripts, birth certificates and applications for Social Security and Selective Service.  These guys like him because they will now be making $10.10 an hour.  Did I mention Valerie Jarrett?

The mostly middle aged participants at the event, stood up, applauded and sat back down 85 times in the course of the speech thereby negating the necessity of them going to the gym or their Pilates classes for the week.  Here's another thought...  next year everyone comes in sweats or shorts   on second thought  scratch that!

 At 10:00 PM I changed the channel.  "Justified" was on.  I have my work and I have my priorities.  After all U. S. Marshal Raylan Givens is more real and more authentic than most of  those inside the Beltway.  He is a man of few words, but when he talks he means what he says and backs it up whenever necessary.  In other words he is the anti-Obama and the  antithesis of every other poseur in Washington City.  It was during the show I had my epiphany..."The State of the Union as presently staged is no longer "Justified"

ERLANDSSON