RUTHFULLY YOURS

If you knew nothing about Barack Obama’s presidency and how he has conducted it, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a reasonable, albeit liberal, and even uplifting State of the Union Address. But after seven years of unrelenting presidential condescension, insults and cynicism, it’s very difficult to take his sermons against cynicism and incivility seriously. Cut through the rhetoric and the message was the same as ever: If you agree with me, you’re reasonable. It was all so tediously familiar and grating I couldn’t wait for it to end (much like Obama’s presidency).

I lost track of the straw-men and false-choices. I particularly enjoyed his “big question” of how to keep America secure “without either isolating ourselves or trying to nation-build everywhere there’s a problem.” Ah, yes, those are the only choices other than Barack Obama’s enlightened third way — a third way so enlightened he actually touted Syria policy as a success. I’m sure the quarter million dead Syrians and the Europeans awash in refugees agree that the Obama Way is so much more enlightened.

Probably the most interesting thing about the speech tonight was how it differed from his prepared remarks and what those differences said. Several times I heard him say things that sounded politically ill-advised and so I checked the prepared remarks thinking that maybe I misheard. But I didn’t.

Well, it’s that time of year again – the State of the Union! Here are my traditional thoughts on the occasion – after which we’ll deal with the peculiar circumstances of tonight’s festivities:

Strange how the monarchical urge persists even in a republic two-and-a-third centuries old. Many commentators have pointed out that the modern State of the Union is in fairly obvious mimicry of the Speech from the Throne that precedes a new legislative session in British Commonwealth countries and continental monarchies, but this is to miss the key difference. When the Queen or her viceroy reads a Throne Speech in Westminster, Ottawa, or Canberra, it’s usually the work of a government with a Parliamentary majority: In other words, the stuff she’s announcing is actually going to happen. That’s why, lest any enthusiasm for this or that legislative proposal be detected, the apolitical monarch overcompensates by reading everything in as flat and unexpressive a monotone as possible. Underneath the ancient rituals — the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod getting the door of the House of Commons slammed in his face three times — it’s actually a very workmanlike affair.

The State of the Union is the opposite. The president gives a performance, extremely animatedly, head swiveling from left-side prompter to right-side prompter, continually urging action now: “Let’s start right away. We can get this done. . . . We can fix this. . . . Now is the time to do it. Now is the time to get it done.” And at the end of the speech, nothing gets done, and nothing gets fixed, and, after a few days’ shadowboxing between admirers and detractors willing to pretend it’s some sort of serious legislative agenda, every single word of it is forgotten until the next one.

I do not often watch Barack Obama’s speeches. No one at my daughter’s school is allowed to bring a peanut butter sandwich for lunch because some of the students have an aggravated allergy to nuts. So do I, just not to peanuts. So when my son asked if we could watch Obama’s recent, tearful speech about “gun violence in America,” it was with some reluctance, in addition to an assist from Mr. J. Daniels, over ice, that I agreed. But I am glad I did. It was a remarkable performance and it reminded me why Obama was elected in the first place. I find his rote face-this-way, then turn-and-face-that-way technique irritating, but boy is he good with a teleprompter (and, no, “boy” is not a racial slur). Obama is an attractive guy. He looks serious. He seems earnest, yes, but above all pragmatic. [Swivel.] He speaks slowly and in short sentences. [Swivel.] He is articulate. He is concerned. The atmosphere he creates, folks [Swivel], is one of simple reason battling dark forces. We’re against violence. We proposed reasonable solutions. Republicans in Congress made progress impossible.

Students of Quintilian should watch Obama. As a rhetor, he really is good. He even, as Mark Steyn noted admiringly, got off a little joke with perfect timing: The twin brother of Mark Gifford, the husband of Obama’s “dear friend and colleague” Gabby Gifford, is an astronaut and was in space when Mark came to see Obama. Obama asked Mark how often he spoke to his brother.

And he says, well, I usually talk to him every day, but the call was coming in right before the meeting so I think I may have not answered his call — (laughter) — which made me feel kind of bad. (Laughter.) That’s a long-distance call. (Laughter.)