Whether or not The Social Network wins any Oscars, digital chitchat among political tweeters in advance of Obama’s State of the Union speech dominated the conversation. The Republicans were in lockstep, setting the tone for their attack on Obama’s investment spending.
Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., took the lead: “Our debt crisis demands spending cuts, not a freeze. When a car speeds toward a cliff, you hit the brakes, not cruise control.” Roy Blunt, the Republican senator from Missouri, chimed in: “We can't afford more borrowed 'investment' spending. Just another word for more spending.” And Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, said, “Obama suggests freezing domestic spending for the next five years; but we need to cut spending, not just freeze it.”
Okay. So they wouldn’t get best screenplay. But they had to follow the Tea Party script in the red carpet portion of the show in order to move on to “date night,” where many reds would be sitting with blues in an awkward attempt to show the cameras that bipartisanship is possible, even for the GOP, which has been called the party of “no.”
“Sitting with Republicans won't cure cancer, won't solve every problem, but why not try to get along? It’s easy and might build a bridge,” said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Mo. Because Ellison is a Muslim, he was also the camera close-up when Obama said, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.”
Senator Mark Udall, D-Co., chimed in, “We may not always agree, but I hope this new tradition facilitates greater bipartisanship and civility in Congress.”
Obama Takes the Podium
The start of the speech kicked off a second round of activity — drinking games. It seems that the State of the Union is either too weighty or too boring to stomach without the hard stuff. Across the Internet (except on The Atlantic, where the tipple of choice was a wholesome SOTU bingo game), viewers were looking for excuses to guzzle in events like “Joe Lieberman looking constipated,” Obama addressing his “friends across the aisle,” and Nancy Pelosi clapping “like a seal.”
Some reported WiFi pandemonium and a run on apple martinis when John McCain actually stood up and clapped when Obama uttered this presidential promise: "If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it."
Journalist Mike Crowley was one of the first to throw cold water on the revelers. He said, “The anti-earmarks line might be most direct evidence of Tea Party influence in this speech.”
Sounds fishy, right? That’s what the president must have thought when he got off the best line of the night:
"We live and do business in the information age, but the last major reorganization of the government happened in the age of black and white TV. There are twelve different agencies that deal with exports. There are at least five different entities that deal with housing policy. Then there’s my favorite example: the Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them in when they’re in saltwater. And I hear it gets even more complicated once they’re smoked."
The humor didn’t escape ABC News’ Jake Tapper, who called SOTU “Salmon Chanted Evening.” Even NPR listeners had a chuckle. They were asked to submit three words to describe the president’s speech. The network took the entries and created this word cloud:
After delivering a deft mix of forward-looking messages, Obama tipped his hat to deficit reduction, promising to work with Republicans on the tough cuts — defense and health care (including Medicare and Medicaid). He didn’t mention Social Security, which accounts for about 20 percent of the federal budget.
At the end, the pundits weighed in. Commentators at CBS, NBC and PBS characterized Obama’s State of the Union as “Reagan-esque,” particularly the way he leaned on narratives throughout the speech and spoke broadly of the future. “It was the future he [Obama] kept talking about, winning the future — that was always a big theme with Reagan,” political correspondent Jeff Greenfield said. “This was an explainer speech,” he added. “There were a lot of moments when I don’t think the speechwriters or the president were looking for applause.”
PBS political analyst Mark Shields said, “More Reagan-esque — not in delivery but invoking our current confidence from our past achievements.” Piers Morgan at CNN also gave Obama points for conviction: “It wasn’t massive on substance, but it was big on rhetoric.”
Bob Schieffer at CBS wondered if there were enough Americans still alive who would understand Obama’s “Sputnik moment” reference.
Greenfield joked that young people “might think it’s a sort of Jewish soul food.”
At NBC, Brian Williams said, "Everyone can agree it was a different kind of speech than seen in recent years ... from the laundry list ... to a broader, breezier address ... "
Finally, political consultant Matt Dowd summed up what many were thinking: “This speech began 60 days ago — when he took a licking, he began clicking.”
Additional reporting: Alix Pianin, Greg Hevia.
