Fleeting thoughts on the State of the Union.

Say what you will about Barack Obama, the man can give a speech. It's fair to consider myself in an unhealthy relationship with our forty-fourth president at this point--he keeps letting me down, but when I hear that voice I just keep coming back. You don't understand, he's just under a lot of stress. Sometimes he says things he doesn't mean and, well, nobody's perfect. I'm putting too much pressure on him. It's my fault.

What struck me about this speech was the persistent tone of indignation--he called out the Republicans for hypocritical, cynical nay-saying; he called out the Democrats for cowardice; he (indecorously, perhaps) called out the Supreme Court for selling the nation out to corporate interests. He was funny, aggressive, earnest, ambitious.



The problem, of course, is that calling them out won't make the Republicans any more honest; it won't make the Democrats less cowardly; it won't reverse the Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case.

It was a great speech, though.

P.S. I'd like to nominate Eric Cantor for most punchable face in Congress.