Hey, everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, here's a little treat for you all in the mood tonight: a discussion of tonight's State of the Union Address! However, there are some ground rules to go over real quick, so give 'em a read so you don't get in trouble for anything.
- This thread is temporary. It will be locked at an undisclosed time after the address is over. Do not take it upon yourself to make a new thread: this is a one-time deal.
- People exist out there with opinions different from yours. This is unfortunate, but such is life. It is difficult to have a manageable discussion if people are yelling back and forth at each other, so please keep a calm head when engaging with people. Spirited debate is fine, but posts full of catty insults and huge posts that dissect another's person post with 50 quote tags makes for a thread that is almost impossible to read for all but a handful of people.
- Do not engage with assholes. If someone is spouting off shitty rhetoric (racism, sexism, transphobia, etc.), then report them. Replying to their nonsense just derails the thread and, honestly, they're most likely shitty trolls with no interest in discourse. Don't waste your time on them.
- This thread is about the State of the Union. While I know this is SE++, going into too big of a derail could get the thread closed prematurely.
What is the State of the Union?
For non-Americans or people with poor grades in Government, it's basically a speech from the President to all of Congress about how the country is doing. The answer is always "Peachy keen." because no president is going to undermine their administration by being honest, so that's not the real reason to tune in. The reason you tune in is to see what the president has planned for the year, what issues he seems to be prioritizing, and whether or not any criticisms levied at the administration are addressed. Sometimes things will be announced like a bill being worked on with Congress, initiatives being started, and all that jazz. It's a way for the president to really publicize his agenda to Congress and the nation, making it one of the perks of the office. Well, assuming you're not a terrible public speaker.
The address is typically followed by a response from a member of the opposition party (in this case: Republicans), which has a been highly entertaining these past few years. The opposition response has killed off a bunch of promising up-and-comers in the GOP, notably Bobby Jindal who was seen as something of a Republican Obama right after the 2008 elections, but you probably don't remember this because he crashed and burned when he went up to bat. Last year we had Marco Rubio fuck up drinking water of all things, so cross your fingers for a grand old time from the grand old party.
Giving the speech this year is, unsurprisingly, the 44th President of the United States of America: Barack Obama. After crushing his enemies in reelection, seeing them driven before him, and hearing the lamentations of their bankers, Obama looked poised to have a pretty good second term. However, a variety of problems both real and pretend have plagued the first year of his second term. Important issues are things like the NSA, Obama not doing anything to shrink the amount of executive power his office has, our issues in the Middle East including our inability to stop sticking our nose (and drones) in everyone's business, the poor roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, and economy still being poopy. Other "problems" under Obama last year were Benghazi, having to play chicken with Republicans every time a budget issue comes up, Benghazi, the IRS targeting political groups, and Benghazi.
The State of the Union is one of the highlights of Obama's presidency, at least from a sort of superficial perspective. The man can give a rousing speech when he wants too, which will make it all the more painful when he reneges on half of the shit he promises, and then waters down the rest to make Republicans happy.
Cathy McMorris Rodgers will be playing the role of the GOP's sacrificial lamb this evening. She is the Chair of of the House Republican Conference, making her the highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress (if Wikipedia is to be believed). I don't know much about her, but I get a fundamentalist Christian vibe by reading up on her. I suppose we shall see. There's been periodic talk about how Republicans have declared a "War on Women" by trying to undermine Roe v. Wade and just being generally shitty about women's issues in general. Calling on Rodgers to give the response might be a move to convince people that the Republican Party really does care about women.
Spoiler:
They fucking don't.
Coming back once again is the Tea Party, who are doing their own response via Mike Lee, a Senator from Utah. Technically the Tea Party is not a political party (though they do have a caucus in Congress), but they're a strong, principled group of conservatives that they feel the mainstream Republican Party will mince words and not deliver a proper response to Obama's address. Thus, it is up to true patriots such as Mike Lee to deliver a scathing retort that will inspire the nation to return to its proud, independent roots. Mike Lee seems like a fiscal Tea Party Conservative through and through, so I expect his response to be a serious criticism of the President's Address and will in no way be a farcical descent into incompetence that will undermine the Republican response.
Okay, so Rand Paul is also doing a response tonight, which will be on behalf of...uh...Rand Paul, I guess. I don't even know if this will get broadcast on television, but it's a definitely a must-watch as Rand Paul is definitely a special sort of politician.
I don't even know what the hell is going anymore. So...Ted Cruz decided that he ALSO wanted to do a response, but I guess he was afraid of the suddenly very crowded field of people that want to publicly whine about Obama. So Ted Cruz made a speech LAST WEEK, which means only one thing: Republicans possess time travel technology, and we should all fear for our lives.
Where I can see this?
You could be less lazy and just google "State of the Union" and get ten livestreams, but here ya go:
- http://www.whitehouse.gov/live Might be slow because a lot of people are going there the White House is carefully editing the feed to make Obama look good.
- http://www.youtube.com/show/stateoftheunion I dunno how the quality will be, but you can be sure that Google will give data about your viewing experience to the NSA.
- Just about every major news website on the planet. Seriously, how lazy are you?
Have at it!