As much as I enjoy Barack Obama's oratory style and presence, there were few things in last night's State of the Union speech that stood out to me as any kind of departure from the typical talking points of this event, which are usually:
- we should stop doing some stuff that's not good for the country
- we should do more of the things that are good for the country
- there are some special guests here whose personal stories will make you cry
- everything will be great, you'll see
- USA is #1 YEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
It seems like if you have an audience of millions for an hour in prime time, you might mix it up a little bit. Maybe some flip charts or a talking puppet or something? Oh well.
But, there were two ideas from the speech that I found a little different, and that seem worth following up on if they were offered in sincerity:
- it's okay to think about the possibility of cutting military funding
- it's possible that the departments of the federal government aren't organized in the most efficient way possible given the modern technological tools available for conducting business
If even some small percentage of someone's time is spent acting on those ideas and bringing about some change as a result, then I'll be grateful they were held up during the speech.
Otherwise, thanks for all the fish jokes, see you again next year.
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