Somewhat against my better judgment I watched the State of the Union message last night. It was President Trump at his best such as it was—he stayed largely on-script. It was overly long and in my view pointless, emphasizing more than anything else that these exercises should be dispensed with.
For their part I did not think the Democrats’ performance had the effect they were seeking. All of the female Democratic senators and representatives wore white, a poor choice. White shows every crease, fold, and wrinkle. It looks becoming on very few. As some non-Democratic commenters in the peanut gallery pointed out, it was reminiscent of a Klan rally, presumably not the effect they were seeking, especially under the circumstances.
The Democrats remained disciplined, largely following Speaker Pelosi’s lead in their reactions. When she applauded, they applauded. When she stood, they stood. Again, I do not think that evoked the reaction they were seeking. I thought they looked petulant and oppositional. For example they did not applaud when President Trump took note of record low black, Hispanic, and Asian unemployment. They rather clearly think they can be strictly oppositional and still take care of the people’s business. I’m not so sure.
I don’t care for the practice opposing party responses to begin with and I thought that Stacey Abrams was an odd choice of someone to deliver it. The unavoidable conclusion was that Democrats are promoting the line that they’ll win elections if Republicans just don’t rig them, darn it.
Bottom line: it was a wasted two hours for me.
Glottun for punishment?
I didn’t watch it and so far have only read headlines and reactions on Facebook. Those are about what you’d expect.
I could’ve told you so……..