State of the Union Address: Anticlimactic?

america.aljazeera.com

President Obama tells the people what they want to hear

thirdage.com

President's speech is interrupted 85 times by applause 

futurefortified.org

President Obama delivers a very upbeat speech. 

Stephen Montisano

Intro to Journalism

Professor Snorgrass

1/29/14

State of the Union Address: Anticlimactic?

President Obama entered the chamber in Washington for his State of the Union Address with thunderous applause.  This style of delivery of the State of the Union Address (giving it in person with a live audience in house) was the original style of giving the address.  Then Thomas Jefferson decided to change this due to the fact that he thought it was an inappropriate way of doing things.  He did not want the applause because he thought that praise was not the purpose of the address.  Then Woodrow Wilson in 1913 made it a speech again.  Some commented on Obama’s entrance saying that it felt like a royal entry or like the queen’s address.  Obama came in shaking hands and greeting people, carrying himself very well as usual.

The talk before the address was about how Obama would propose to get Congress to back his ideas and policies.  Congress has not been very cooperative with President Obama.  Many think that this is due to the fact that he said too many negative things about conservative republicans over the years that the republicans in Congress do not want to help him.  The question before the address was, what are his new proposals going to be and how is he going to approach getting Congress to be on his side.

President Obama had a very upbeat and positive vibe with his speech.  He talked about all of the things that have improved like the unemployment rate improving and the stock market being higher than it has been in a few years.  He sort of treated it like a pep rally or a campaign speech, and at the end said that Congress needs to help him or he is going to do things himself.  The President’s speech was around an hour and five minutes and he was interrupted eighty-five times by applause.  Obama was saying all the right things and said that many things can be accomplished with the cooperation of Congress.

He touched on many areas and said many things that would please any American.  Talk of helping the hardworking people who have become unemployed who are trying to live the American dream; the notion that no one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty.   He wants   He wants to increase upward mobility but raising minimum wage so that it is possible for the middle class and below to get ahead and move to the upper class.  He wants the primary education of American’s young children to be a world class education.  He wants to prevent crisis like Sandy Hook and other gun violence so that our people are safe, and many other wonderful dreams were mentioned.

President Obama did not propose anything new besides MyRA which he will propose on the 29^th of January.  The President mentioned MyRA but did not give many details about this new program.  He was said to have talked about his “Stale old ideas,” said Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan.  Paul Ryan said that the President was not very combative in the nature of his speech and that he only pushed the same old ideas and then gave the Americans and Congress the idea that, it is my way (Obama’s way) or the highway.  This means that he will go around Congress if Congress will not help him. 

The overall consensus on the State of the Union Address was that it was anticlimactic because nothing new was proposed and he said he was going to go around Congress and make some things happen.  While everyone knows this is ambitious it cannot be very effective.  Many looked at the speech to be sort of like a pep rally to get the American people behind him and his dreams for this country and to get on Congress’ case for not helping him put these ideas into effect.  The President approached his speech in the “safest” way possible. 

Monti's take on the President's speach: did he tell us anything?