State of the Union 2011, Winning the Future (‘Cause we’ve lost the present) [Ba-ROCK or Not]

Another year, another ritual of political theater.

Despite attempts by several different parties, America is still here. And the fundamental division still remains, despite the bipartisan-seating gesture by uncomfortable members of Congress. It’s a division between those who fear a radical agenda that will take America down a few pegs as a world power and those who are afraid America won’t change enough before the pendulum swings back to conservatism. So President Barack Obama’s mission seems to be to perform the magical task of assuaging both sides.

Let's get this over with.

Frankly, the job isn’t enviable. The man is going to have every bit of his rhetoric vivisected and contradicted by commenters of all political stripes. Despite his talents as a orator, Obama can’t get past the fact that giving an accurate and realistic state of the union would send the country into a panic. If he were to come out and say, “We don’t have the political willpower in this country to make the cuts or tax increases necessary to balance our budget and if we did you would be looking at the end of social security, Medicare, and the military as we know it” …. Well, there would be mass rioting.

So what the State of the Union really is, at its best, is inspiration for the future. Because those of blessed with logic know that the ideals put forward in these speeches are mainly fantasies. At its worst, the State of the Union is an artful lie. A piece of ritual propaganda that serves as a campaign speech for the President and/or the President’s party.

So I wasn’t terribly impressed by the President’s speech. But I also understand the necessity of some of his flowery prose. Hell, he might even believe a lot of it. But belief alone doesn’t make one Ba-ROCK. Let’s break down some of his key points from Tuesday’s SOTU in 2011’s first edition of: