Jan 23 2007
What did he say?
Update 1/23/07 3:40 p.m.:
I thought I should warn readers properly that this is a bit of a rant. 
As the President prepares to make his State of the Union speech, some pundits, newsanchors, bloggers, and God-knows-who-else are already critiquing his speech.
That would be typical enough, except the problem is: HE HAS NOT MADE THE SPEECH YET!
One blogger wrote:
Why even bother with a televised State of the Union Speech from George W. Bush? By the time Bush steps up to the microphone tonight, the entire world will already know everything that is contained in his speech. Americans who are interested will already have read the important parts of the speech on the internet or heard pundits pick them apart on 24 hour news channels.
It is the single most glaring characteristic of our manic, Tasmanian Devil world that people cannot actually stop to hear what others are saying. Including me.
The President has not stepped up the podium before Congress and already the Democrats has drafted their response, the talking heads have been analyzing his proposals and explaining in great detail why it won’t work, and bloggers are shrugging, “Why bother?”
It was a great American tradition to allow people (even the President of the United States) to have their say. This last month people were decrying the President’s proposal to surge the number of troops into Iraq weeks (almost a month) before the President actually proposed it. During the intervening time, news publications and other media outlets tore the President’s plan to shreds before it even got out of the chalks. By the time he opened his mouth to speak, his proposal was already a dead letter to many of his opponents… and also to his thin red line of his “fellow” Republicans.
I mean who cares what the President actually says? is people’s attitude.
The same blogger I quoted above queried:
I remember a time when Americans yearned to sit down and listen to words from our President. What’s changed?
Isn’t it obvious? We’ve already decided what the President is going to say before he speaks and many are queuing up to oppose it.
This is a Brownshirt tactic, or if you prefer a Straw man argument. They erect a false, weak argument, and then smash it with their overwhelming brilliance. I doesn’t matter whether it proves false in the end. Who would pay attention?
Let us calm the torrents of our brilliance and listen for a change. Perhaps, we will want to hear something he has to say.
He’s only the President of the United States.
Related Posts:
Captain’s Quarters: Bush To Focus On Domestic Agenda
Webloggin: State of the Union Speech, Why Bother?