The evening of the State of the Union is, quite seriously, one of my favorite evenings of the whole year. As a student of politics in college, there is something I've always found very intriguing about these nights. All of Washington gathers on Capitol Hill, all three branches of government. There is pomp and pageantry and tradition aplenty on this one night in January - everything from the seating of the First Lady, to the copies of the speech given to the VP and Speaker, to the Sergeant at Arms bellowing to the Congress the arrival of the president. As Chris Wallace said this evening, this night bears the closest resemblance to the parliamentary system of England - cheers, jeers, boos and applause from all corners of the chamber. There is just something about this night that I've always enjoyed - a new blueprint for the country unveiled, the constant clamor between the two parties, the incessant standing and applause throughout the whole of the president's address. There's just something about this night that really displays the democratic ideal of this country - however cracked and broken it might seem every other day of the year.
A new president took to the podium for the State of the Union this year - he addressed the nation last year as a newly elected president, so that speech wasn't considered a State of the Union address. This was the first SotU by a different president since I was fifteen years old. The speech was, in a word, predictable - full of the same rhetoric we've heard for the past several months. And following the speech, one year into his presidency, I remain unconvinced - unconvinced of his policy, unconvinced of his politics, and unconvinced of his intentions for this country. Call me a right-wing nutjob, a moron, an idiot, whatever you will..... but I am just not convinced.
I watched George W. Bush deliver the State of the Union address for six years - from 2002 to 2008. His first State of the Union came four months after the deadliest terror attack in the history of this country. And I may have been an idealistic teenager back then, but when I watched George Bush deliver a State of the Union address, there wasn't a shred of doubt in my mind that here was a man who believed wholeheartedly that the policies he was enacting, however unpopular with the left, were in the very best interests of his country and its citizens, his constituency. He was a man entirely convicted, driven by a deep love of country and a fierce loyalty to protecting her citizens. I don't see that in this current president. I see a chief executive blinded by his own perception of "doing what is right" - even when his policies are so grossly unpopular with the American people. We see a president passionately embroiled in the healthcare debate - a policy move determined to be painfully unpopular with the electorate, as shown by the Senate victory in Massachusetts and by the dozens and dozens of protests throughout the summer. Can he not just take the hint?
Maybe I am just another example of partisan politics. One could certainly argue this same point with George W. Bush - a president blinded by his own convictions, even when grossly unpopular. And perhaps I am just another right-wing nutjob who is stupid enough to laud George W. Bush. Yet I remain convinced that in the wake of September 11, 2001, there was no man in this country more dedicated to preserving my life as an American citizen than, in the words of many leftists, that moronic, monkeyfaced Texan who can't read.
And as for his successor, his politics, policies, and intentions for this nation?
......Right now, I am just not convinced.
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