# Obama's SoTU Speech Analysis **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 28, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715 "2010-01-28T02:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/41 "2010-01-28T03:45:00Z")
Was the General Staff that phlegmatic through the whole speech or only during the part about repealing DADT? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/42 "2010-01-28T03:49:25Z")
> [@Jorge\_Burrito](#): > > While I understand why they did it after Jindhal’s disaster last year, I think the whole I am going to give my response in front of all my family and friends who are going to clap for me even if I go onstage and take a giant deuce is a bit too much. At least he could of given it in front of his state legislature or something. He wasn’t? I mean, he’s the Governor of Virginia – which voted for Obama, sure, but the majority of the House of Delegates and the majority of the State Senate are Republicans, who I’d figured were the folks applauding right along with his wife and kids. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/43 "2010-01-28T03:49:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Was the General Staff that phlegmatic through the whole speech or only during the part about repealing DADT? They keep up the stoic, non-clapping thing during all State of the Unions so as not to look partisan, so it wasn’t just a response to DADT (granted, they’re probably not thrilled about repealing DADT, but they weren’t looking any more pissed off about that then they usually do). Someone suggested the only reason they get invited is to keep them from plotting a coup while the rest of the gov’t is busy. ---
**Author:** ![Jorge\_Burrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Jorge\_Burrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge_Burrito)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/44 "2010-01-28T03:51:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > He wasn’t? I mean, he’s the Governor of Virginia – which voted for Obama, sure, but the majority of the House of Delegates and the majority of the State Senate are Republicans, who I’d figured were the folks applauding right along with his wife and kids. PBS said was family, friends, and his staff. That is a fair point though. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/45 "2010-01-28T03:52:00Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Was there heckling earlier? I thought I heard someone say “howya gonna pay for it”? I didn’t hear heckling but Justice Samuel Alito, such the class act, actually backtalked the president when he smacked SCOTUS over the Citizens United ruling. A major protocol breech, there. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/46 "2010-01-28T03:53:22Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > McCain wants to know if she likes him. _Of course_ they are trysting in an unoccupied room of the White House, problem is, they can’t decide on which epithets to scream out during their monkey love so the Secret Service agents get confused enough to determine that them fucking is an impossibility. Oh, those two are fucking all right. Bigtime. “Call me Maverick, bitch!!”…“Pass the UHC Bill, oldcock!!”…and so on. ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/47 "2010-01-28T03:54:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > He wasn’t? I mean, he’s the Governor of Virginia – which voted for Obama, sure, but the majority of the House of Delegates and the majority of the State Senate are Republicans, who I’d figured were the folks applauding right along with his wife and kids. The Virginia Senate is [22-18](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_of_Virginia) Democrats to Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/48 "2010-01-28T03:54:41Z")
“Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership” Right on. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/49 "2010-01-28T03:58:39Z")
On a serious note…I thought it was more of the “rah rah America, we can do this” crap that seems more and more unrealistic as the economy…blossoms… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/50 "2010-01-28T03:59:05Z")
> [@Jorge\_Burrito](#): > > PBS said was family, friends, and his staff. That is a fair point though. Not as good a point as I’d thought, though; the Republicans still have a big majority in the House of Delegates, but I hadn’t realized the State Senate is now a week-plus into being four votes ahead for the Democrats. (Still, part of that is because one of the Senators just became McDonnell’s Republican Attorney General alongside the Republican Lieutenant Governor; maybe they count towards staff?) EDITED TO ADD: Dangit, I was beaten to correcting myself! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/51 "2010-01-28T04:44:08Z")
I thought Obama’s speech was a little more energetic than he’s been lately, and I liked that he didn’t try to shift to the right, like so many were predicting, nor did he back off of health care. Instead of saying, “oh, I’m sorry, health care is bad, I surrender,” he said “kiss my black ass, I’m not giving up on it, I don’t care about the politics.” The Fox News commentators seemed shocked by it. I guess ideological sincerity and consistency is baffling to them. That Republican response was ridiculous. I don’t mean anything he said, in particular (though the line about Obama “protecting terrorists” was pretty vile) but that ludicrously self-serving spectacle of staging a mock SOTU of his own, and loading it up with friends and family. Has an opposition party’s response ever even used a live audience before, much less one stacked with personal supporters like that? I know that Jindal looked dismal last year, but is going all out with artificial applause and adoration really the answer? It was just distracting and silly, and came off as egocentric. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/52 "2010-01-28T04:44:23Z")
> [@HISSNLISSN](#): > > Not Sure addressing the Americans of 2505. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/53 "2010-01-28T04:46:39Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Was the General Staff that phlegmatic through the whole speech or only during the part about repealing DADT? Phlegmatic? Actually, they seemed to have the look that must have appeared on Abraham’s face when God explained what the word “circumcise” means. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/54 "2010-01-28T05:02:16Z")
Anyone who does a speech right after Obama automatically looks ridiculous. There is no politician alive that can do a better speech than he can. The SOTU sounded good and logical, but its message will soon get lost and forgotten among the day to day political chatter. By next week it’ll be back to “Obama is doing too much” and “Obama is pro-spending and pro-big business”. The public loses patience pretty quickly. Oh and in other good news, Chris “The Douchewad” Mathews [forgot that Obama was black.](http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0110/Matthews_I_forgot_he_was_black_tonight_for_an_hour.html) He meant it as a compliment somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/55 "2010-01-28T05:08:21Z")
Isn’t it nice to listen to The State Of The Union Address and feel _anything_ other than embarrassment? You could like what he said or hate it, but at least you didn’t spend the whole speech with “Oh ghod, just get through this without saying or doing anything stupid, _please_” in the back of your mind. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/56 "2010-01-28T05:11:39Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Anyone who does a speech right after Obama automatically looks ridiculous. There is no politician alive that can do a better speech than he can. > > The SOTU sounded good and logical, but its message will soon get lost and forgotten among the day to day political chatter. By next week it’ll be back to “Obama is doing too much” and “Obama is pro-spending and pro-big business”. The public loses patience pretty quickly. > > Oh and in other good news, Chris “The Douchewad” Mathews [forgot that Obama was black.](http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0110/Matthews_I_forgot_he_was_black_tonight_for_an_hour.html) He meant it as a compliment somehow. I think, that for those of a certain generation or older (basically baby boomers on back) the fact that we have a black President is still something they marvel at. I do think it’s harmless, but they do remember a time when such a prospect would have seemed preposterous, or at least something so far in the future as to be science fiction, like interstellar travel or flying cars. I think they still can’t believe it, so they seem fixated on it to a degree that seems bizarre and embarrasing to younger generations. People under 30, even under 40 don’t see the idea of a black President as anything all that extraordinary or anything to dwell on. It’s nice that it finally happened, yes, we broke that barrier, but it’s quickly become fairly incidental to them, while their parents and grandparents are still going “holy fucking shit.” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/57 "2010-01-28T05:12:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Isn’t it nice to listen to The State Of The Union Address and feel _anything_ other than embarrassment? You could like what he said or hate it, but at least you didn’t spend the whole speech with “Oh ghod, just get through this without saying or doing anything stupid, _please_” in the back of your mind. Oh please, Bush wasn’t _that_ bad…especially once he got the walkie-talkie lump in the sportcoat thing figured out, that is… ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/58 "2010-01-28T05:14:24Z")
I haven’t been able to watch a SOTU straight through for decades. I can’t stand the continuous and phony jack-in-the-box response to each and every sentence. If I was operating the teleprompter I’d add the line “economic recover hinges on our ability to deliver clean and efficient wind powered ice cream enemas” just to see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/59 "2010-01-28T05:22:56Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I haven’t been able to watch a SOTU straight through for decades. I can’t stand the continuous and phony jack-in-the-box response to each and every sentence. If I was operating the teleprompter I’d add the line “economic recover hinges on our ability to deliver clean and efficient wind powered ice cream enemas” just to see what happens. If you don’t watch, then how do you _know_ that very message wasn’t slipped in there by President Obama? I heard “ice cream” and “enema”, but I am not certain as to the context… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715/60 "2010-01-28T05:28:38Z")
To me, this felt like Obama was choosing to reintroduce himself to the public after a tough year that lead to a lot of national frustration. He needed to do that. In this speech he was more like Obama the candidate than what I’ve seen of him as president, and I thought he was clear, firm, and above all focused. If he’s able to get some more of his agenda through, people will talk about this speech as the turning point. (I realize this is a little like saying it’s going to be sunny tomorrow unless it’s cloudy.) So I think the speech was very effective. The question is how well it translates into action. Based on what he said, I think he’s realized he needs to get tougher in order to start getting more of his agenda passed. That means doing more to direct Congress, more to get his plans to the public rather than just his general concepts, and more aggressive with his opposition. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-sotu-speech-analysis/526715.md?page=4)