Tonight's SOTU Address

[ABM]

Will it be nothing but smoke and mirrors?? More of the same?? Calculated correction??

 

[Buzz Killington]

we should play a drinking game, everytime he says "I vow"

 

[ABM]

From TIME Magazine: Obama's State of the Union Address: Five Ways to Judge Its Success

Giving a transformational presidential speech while trapped in politically toxic quicksand is no easy task. And as he mounts the rostrum in the House of Representatives' chamber on Wednesday night, the forces arrayed against Barack Obama — both real and those conjured by the politico-media maelstrom — are fierce.

Liberals (in the blogosphere, at the grass roots and in Congress) complain that the President is a spineless, incompetent quitter. Conservatives (on Fox News and talk radio, at tea-party confabs and in Congress) insist that he is a panicky, on-the-run liberal. Old media sputter that he is a flailing, directionless Jimmy Carter redux.

In just over a year, Obama has gone from a hopemonger destined to change America and revitalize the Democratic Party to a foundering President — from a man determined to bring America's best values to a capital gone bad to a man who has reinforced everything the country hates about government and politics.

Although Obama has a history of using big speeches to spark or recalibrate his fortunes (the Democratic National Convention keynote in Boston in 2004, his Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Dinner speech in 2007, his oration on race in 2008, which was prompted by the controversy surrounding Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright), no realistic appraiser of Obama's looming State of the Union believes he can turn everything around with one prime-time address.

Obama's task is particularly tough because even before he will have finished speaking to tens of millions of Americans, the media filter (both old and new) will jump in to sift, analyze and reshape his message. For a weakened President, this is both a nuisance and a danger.

Still, the White House is guaranteed about an hour tonight with all eyes on its star at center stage, when the Commander in Chief can tower over his opponents. If there is to be an Obama comeback in early 2010, it begins on Wednesday night. Here are the five metrics and tea leaves that will determine success or failure:...........................

 

[Mediocre Man]

Let me sum it up for everyone not able to watch.


I vow is it too late to have a do over of my first year. I vow sorry I fucked that up for all of you who actually bought in to my speaches.......I vow I am a great speaker afterall. I vow goodnight, and I vow God Bless America.


Oh, and I vow to fuck up your great night of tv programing of Modern Family and Cougar Town to say nothing.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Let me sum it up for everyone not able to watch.


I vow is it too late to have a do over of my first year. I vow sorry I fucked that up for all of you who actually bought in to my speaches.......I vow I am a great speaker afterall. I vow goodnight, and I vow God Bless America.

you forgot the crowning achievement of his presidency thus far, eliminating "don't ask don't tell".

well, he will...just working on it still.

 

[ABM]

Let me sum it up for everyone not able to watch.


I vow is it too late to have a do over of my first year. I vow sorry I fucked that up for all of you who actually bought in to my speaches.......I vow I am a great speaker afterall. I vow goodnight, and I vow God Bless America.


Oh, and I vow to fuck up your great night of tv programing of Modern Family and Cougar Town to say nothing.

Just watch the re-broadcast on C-SPAN?

 

[BrianFromWA]

Will it be on during the Blazers' game?

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

He will be a bit chaste, very eloquent and very 'Presidential'.

Whether what he says holds any truth or promise is anybody's guess, but he is one of the great orators in the world in the last 25 years.

 

[BrianFromWA]

The things I remember most about SOTUs is that every time there's a comma or pause for breath, half of the Congress stands up and claps for 30 seconds.

 

[ABM]

Will it be on during the Blazers' game?

Yes. Therefore, TiVo the SOTU.

 

[blue32]

lol- you guys crack me up. The figurehead always changes, the complaints do not.

 

[Haakzilla]

Try this:

You need a bottle of your favorite alcohol and a shot glass. Then,

· Every time Obama says, “Let me be clear…” – take a shot

· Every time Obama says, “Make no mistake…” – take a shot

· Every time Pelosi claps like a seal – take a shot

· Every time Obama says, “Let me be clear, make no mistake, it’s difficult to make a change…” – take 5 shots


By the end of the address, you won’t remember or care about a thing…

 

[BrianFromWA]

Try this:

By the end of the first paragram, you'll be hammered.

 

[Buzz Killington]

How It Works

#1 Take a drink every time Obama blames Bush. References to "prior administration" or "inherited" count.

Online Version: Post "Drink" to your Facebook status


#2 Take a drink every time Obama prefaces a lie with the phrase "Let me be clear". Also every time he says "unprecedented".

Online Version: Post "Drink" to your Facebook status. (Joe Wilson "You Lie" is also acceptable)


#3 Yell "Ka-Ching!" every time Obama says the word "Deficit" or references any kind of spending increase, cut or both.

Online Version: Post "Ka-ching!" to your Facebook status (and take a moment to hide your wallet).

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=o...it=quick#/obamadrinkinggame?v=info&ref=search

 

[ABM]

"My fellow Americans, I come to you with a heavy heart.

NOT because if the health care issues. NOT because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. NOT because of the economy. But, because I had a pepperoni pizza last night. Thank you, and good night."

 

[ABM]

Will it be on during the Blazers' game?

Actually, it begins at 6 PM our time, while the Blazer game begins at 7 PM. Probably some cross-over, though.

 

[ABM]

Try this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/state-of-the-union-drinki_n_436932.html

 

[ABM]

It's funny watching those looking around to see who's standing/clapping and who's not.......perhaps, wondering if they, themselves, should be standing/clapping or not.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Obama seems to take a lot of incidental personal experience to shape policies versus seeing what America likes (esp. with Healthcare reform).

 

[J~Rush]

The speech would be 30 minutes long if they didn't clap for 30 seconds every other sentence.

 

[Buzz Killington]

It would be 30 seconds long if they took out proposals that won't happen.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

It would be 30 seconds long if they took out proposals that won't happen.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Good line.

 

[PHXBlazer1]

Obama is black?

 

[Buzz Killington]

What a fucking douche:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/28/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6150964.shtml

The Internet was abuzz last night after MSNBC's Chris Matthews said, following President Obama's State of the Union address, that he "forgot he was black tonight for an hour."

In those comments, Matthews said the president is "post-racial" and that he was pleased that Americans didn't think about the fact that the president of the United States is African-American.

Speaking to Rachel Maddow later in the evening, Matthews clarified the comments, saying he was "very proud" he made them.

so for the rest of the time, he just sees him as a black man, not the president?

"To see a president of the United States who is African-American, I was thinking tonight – this isn't even an issue tonight," Matthews said. "How far we've come in just a year, where it was a campaign issue in some parts of the country, it was talked about as something that would hurt him. And it wasn't in the room tonight, you could feel it wasn't there tonight. And that takes leadership on his part, to get us beyond these divisions."

Matthews added that Mr. Obama has "done something wonderful" and "taken us beyond black and white in our politics."

What, were you expecting him to talk in jive and say "yeh massa" all night?

 

[maxiep]

I can sum up those 70 minutes in one word: Contradictory.

 

[Buzz Killington]

basically it seemed like he wanted to make a bunch of sound bites rather than a cohesive speech.

 

[maxiep]

What a fucking douche:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/28/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6150964.shtml



so for the rest of the time, he just sees him as a black man, not the president?



What, were you expecting him to talk in jive and say "yeh massa" all night?

I saw those comments made by Matthews live last night. He said he was reticent to say what he was thinking because it was probably going to come out the wrong way. His intent was to say that in his mind racism played a large role in American life before the election of President Obama, and that no one was thinking about his race when he was speaking. He was trying to say that because of President Obama, we've moved beyond racism.

I think it shows how little Chris Matthews thinks of the American people. I happen to think we're not a racist society.

 

[Buzz Killington]

and I think that many of the people that voted for Obama did so because he was a black man who talked without the "negro dialect" (as eloquently put by Harry Reid). IMO, there is more inherent racism within the Obama supporters.

 

[maxiep]

and I think that many of the people that voted for Obama did so because he was a black man who talked without the "negro dialect" (as eloquently put by Harry Reid). IMO, there is more inherent racism within the Obama supporters.

I'd put it a little differently. I would say the number of people that voted against then-Senator Obama because he is half-black, even though they agreed with his policies is far, far, far less than the number of people who voted for then-Senator Obama because in their mind he would help absolve them of what they felt our country's original sin was--racism, even though they largely disagreed with his policies.

In other words, his racial identity helped, not hurt, him.

 

[Buzz Killington]

I think they just though it was cool and hip to vote for a black person. Similar to someone saying they are green/eco-friendly, but only do so in one aspect of their life so others can see them being so (then getting in their 12MPG SUV by themselves)