By Adam Bitely
The Constitution requires that the President deliver a message on the State of the Union to the Congress from time to time. In the beginning of our nation, this was done with little fanfare. But in the modern era, it has turned into explicit political theatre. The speech has lost all meaning, and is the epitome of worthless rhetoric. Worse, it goes on for a full hour.
When Obama delivers his State of the Union tonight, it is imperative to keep in mind that it is nothing but political grandstanding to a nationwide audience. He will announce all of his accomplishments, declare America the greatest land in the world, and will promise funding to all sorts of new outlets that you will never hear of again. His speech is the typical State of the Union address, and nothing more.
Political pundits on all sides will spend the next week dissecting the speech. They will try to uncover the hidden meaning, and praise the rhetoric. They will waste countless hours of time agreeing and disagreeing with what was said. But this routine is meaningless because the speech itself is meaningless.
According to those that have had access to the speech, Obama will call for fiscal responsibility while decrying the out of control deficit. Judging by his past two years in office, this is the prime example of why the speech is indeed meaningless. For it was Obama that signed all of the legislation over the past two years that has blown the deficit through the ceiling.
As soon as Obama calls for this new era of “fiscal responsibility”, he will quickly call for new spending on education and funds for the purpose of creating jobs. This call for increased spending will be dressed up with words like “targeted”, “focused”, and “responsibility” without ever having to come out and say, “I would like to increase spending.”
All the while, the viewers of the speech will watch all of the members of Congress sitting uncomfortably outside of their partisan divide. Republicans and Democrats will be sitting in bipartisan twosomes, which is one of the night’s marquee acts of political staging. This new seating arrangement will prove worthless when Congress returns to the status quo of partisan bickering on Wednesday morning.
No matter how much rhetoric Obama delivers, it cannot change the facts. And no pundit spin in the aftermath will either.
What Obama leaves out of his speech is what will be most noteworthy. With political tensions running high after the Tucson shootings, Obama will attempt to deliver a uniting speech. He will stay away from any serious efforts to address spending cuts, or to repeal his signature legislative achievement — ObamaCare.
Obama will instead stick with safe and comfortable topics. From protecting senior citizens’ benefits, to educating America’s youth, this speech will be full of fluff that is devoid of any real substance. And that is why this speech is pointless.
After this speech is over with, the Washington politicians will all return to normal. Congress will go back to debating whether or not running a $14 trillion debt is okay, and Obama will return to his normal routine of delivering for Big Labor and implementing harmful regulations. The speech will mark no change in America.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @AdamBitely.
