State of the Union and Earmark Threats
The state of the Union. Ahhhh. One of the last bastians of pure talking point rhetoric. The State of the Union is written by the President’s speech writers…..or outlined….then each cabinet gets it…..then the writers get at the speech again…..then the cabinet gets it again……then the speech writers. It is a maze of redtape that makes it amazing that the speech is ever done.
This year, as usual the same boring filler was the norm. However, a few threats stuck out from the rest of the blind checklist rhetoric. First the President said that he wanted to end the bias in the tax code against individuals that buy there own health insurance. This sounds like a small move, but would require a major legislative package. I am in complete support of this initiative.
The best threat was the President’s threat against earmarks. Actually, any threat of a veto is funny/hilarious from GW Bush. He didn’t veto any piece of legislation until the Democrats took over the Congress. He has let thousands of earmarks slide across his desk unchecked. The past aside, I am glad he finally is on board, better late than never. So, I will support this initiative and call out the hipocrisy at the same time.
All in all, the State of the Union was a good speech. This one was a little more partisan that previous ones, but he received standing ovation from both sides throughout the whole speech, so it wasn’t too devisive.
