The State of the Union, Part III: The Reactions
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published January 31, 2007, 3:50 pm in Voting & Partisanship, Rhetoric.
A lot has happened this week, with Joe Biden entering the Democratic frenzy, the fight over troop levels and withdrawal from Iraq, and the inherently interesting yet practically boring Libby trial. But I promised last week that I would have three parts to my discussion of the State of the Union, so here is the long-awaited Part III: The Reactions. By reaction, I mean the reaction of the people sitting there in the chamber watching the President give his speech. I could go outside and interview people on the street about the State of the Union, but I would have three problems with this definition of "reaction." First, it's hard work. I'm not a pollster, and I certainly don't want to go out there and interview people. Heck, I'm an introvert, so I would rather sit here and write and read than go out there and talk to people. Second, I don't find it that interesting. Sure, I want to know what the public thinks about Bush's proposed policies, but I'm more interested to know what the Republicans and Democrats think about it. Third, most people didn't watch it. Yeah, I know, I know: about 45 million people watched it. That's a heck of a lot, sure. But it isn't enough to get very good returns from a small survey, especially on a college campus. If I go outside and ask people's reactions to the State of the Union Address, I imagine that I would get very few people stating that they had actually watched it. The internet makes it available to more people, of course, so the 45 million figure only accounts for the number who watched it last Tuesday, not the countless who have watched it from any number of websites, or heck, even read it. It's a speech, but the transcript is widely available, too.
So let's get down to it. First, I want to reiterate the graciousness of Bush and Pelosi. When Bush brought up the fact that she is the first female Speaker of the House, I thought it was great, and Pelosi handled it beautifully. From then on, though, I kept watching Pelosi to see when she would smile or clap. Cheney, too, but that guy never did smile, at least not that I remember. Through most of the speech, both Pelosi and Cheney looked as if they weren't even listening. With Pelosi, I wondered if she had an earpiece in and was listening to someone else. I'm sure it must be difficult to be on national television for 49 minutes straight without saying a word, but it seemed as if they could have nodded or smiled or something. But then we would have thought that Pelosi was agreeing or disagreeing with something the President said, and that would have veered from their Democratic script. I still like the way she seemed surprised when Bush introduced her at the beginning. It was nice to see her as human, even if she didn't keep that up throughout the speech.
"Our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on, as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done."
Pelosi started clapping right away at this one, and I appreciated that. Everyone clapped, but I had the sneaking feeling that some were reserved about it. It's a statement that we can all agree on, but politics is often about friends, rewards, and mistrust. Let's just say that it's a wide aisle that separates the Democrats from the Republicans, and I don't see the new Democratic majority making much leeway or effort in crossing that aisle.
"The economy is on the move. And our job is to keep it that way--not with more government but with more enterprise."
Pelosi and the Democrats didn't clap right away with this one. Eventually they did, as a concession, I guess. They can't deny that the economy is rebounding, after all, but they probably hated to clap with that phrase "not with more government."
"First, we must balance the federal budget."
Here, the Democrats stood right away, and it's a clear clue that the clapping is a sign of support for statements. With the Dems standing and clapping here, they are making a statement: the past few years have been over budget and we will balance it.
But then this gem: "We can do so without raising taxes." And then the Republicans stood, while the Democrats actually remained seated. I laugh when I think about it. It's just ludicrous that the up and down is based on whether the statement sounds Democratic or Republican. Good times, indeed.
"So let us work together to reform the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress, and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session."
Everyone stood, and the camera focused on John McCain. And I swear that McCain winked at someone. I still can't tell if that's what he did, but it sure looked like it.
"We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools and by giving famlies with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose some place better."
Here, I realized the strange position Pelosi was in. As one of the most visible people during the speech, it was obvious when she didn't clap, and she didn't clap after that last statement. She doesn't support school choice, we can all guess.
"A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens hav eaffordable and available healthcare."
But here Pelosi seemed to jump up clapping before Bush had even finished the sentence. Again, it was quite amusing to have these practically back-to-back statements be treated so differently. Pelosi is against school choice but she supports healthcare, sure, but to use her position of "power" during the State of the Union to show support for those things was unlike what I was used to watching over the the past six years. I don't remember what happened with these leaders when Clinton was President, but it sure makes the State of the Union more fun to watch the opponents duke it out through applause and standing ovations.
"And to protect good doctors from junk lawsuits, we need to pass medical liability reform."
Here, it's a Republican issue: they all stood. The Democrats: they remained sitting. Whatever. How can anyone disagree that junk lawsuits are bad? Sheesh.
This one, too: "As president, I have a duty to nominate qualified men and women to vacancies on the federal bench. And the United States Senate has a duty as well: to give those nominees a fair hearing and a prompt up-or-down vote on the Senate floor."
Reps up, Dems down.
But then they all agree on some things.
"For each life saved, we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave public servants who devote their lives to finding the terrorists and stopping them."
Of course everyone claps and stands there. It's a non-issue.
Somtimes, I had to wonder whether Pelosi was actually listening. When the President said, "This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk," the Republicans all clapped, but the Democrats didn't. Yet Pelosi was there clapping. Did she not hear that the President was talking about winning the war in Iraq?
I'll leave with that, for it was the most interesting of all of them. The rest were pretty standard applause, except for the one calling for an indepence Palestinian state. That one was pretty good, too. So that's the State of the Union, and I declare it good fun, if not good.
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