Frankly, I do not watch the State of the Union address. Most of them are too long and boring. However, I do download the text, read what was said, and take it apart. I count how many times each president says the word “I,” especially, the narcissistic ones like Obama. I also look for the “Royal We.” All presidents and their writers seem to think that inserting “we” indicates that the President believes that the all Americans agree with what he is stating. Obama had so many “Royal We’s” that I stopped counting.
By critiquing the speech in this manner, you can stop and ponder what is being said. If you are watching it live, you may be distracted and do not realize what he said has the far reaching the implications for our country.
Throughout the speech, I found President Obama’s contention that the recent election indicated that Americans want Democrats and Republicans to work together a distortion of the facts. Americans voted to end the Democrats rule. The voters I know want Republicans to take the mandate that they have been given and change the liberal practices of this administration and past Congress.
Then there are President Obama’s ideas on job creation. By watching the speech you may not have noticed all of his references to government spending for job creation, technical innovation, and education. He also sees the extension of the Bush tax cuts as “his” tax cut.
Another advantage to reading the speech is that you do not have to listen to all of the silly applause. Even if you record it, you have to stop and replay information. When it makes you angry, you can walk away and return when the anger has subsided.
I hope more people will take this approach because you will learn far more than by watching the performance.
