Last night NPR asked listeners to describe President Obama’s State of the Union address “in three words,” and then ran the 4,000 responses through a word cloud generator. And?
Missed the president’s “salmon” moment? It was the laugh line in a section about (ha!) our outmoded, wasteful, convoluted government. To wit:
The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they’re in salt water. I hear it gets even more complicated once they’re smoked.
State of the Union in a word: "Phony!"
The American people must "disconnect" from Obama in 2012 - if they don't want to keep their present "misery" until 2016
This state of the union address should have been labeled "STATE OF THE UNION FOR DUMMIES!" The American people proved in the recent congressional elections that have had enough of Obama's phony rhetoric. The Wall Street executives that have driven us into poverty and despair have gotten $ millions bonuses to steer our economy into the rocks, and $ millions of bonuses from the U.S. Treasury to re-float it. And, like John Dillinger, they know where the money is, "and how to take it out" - but legally! And even though almost nothing has changed since 2008, Obama sees progress and a promised land ahead - but he keeps the supposed big gains ahead as collateral for his 2012 re-election.
On the other side, the republicans are bound to tear his passed reforms, and scrap or stall any future plan that may help him re-elected. It is a tag-of-war, and the average Americans are the rope that is stretched to the limits of tolerance, a.ka. unemployment, foreclosures, a catatonic market economy, and promises made by Obama two years ago that they still don't see in the horizon. And I am sure, as they watched more of the same promises by Obama last night, and all those standing ovations for his "empty rhetoric," they all probably wondered: I have heard that before -quite a few times, Haven't I?
Yes America, you have. And you will hear it again, and again. And you should expect your suffering to continue, while those politicos { I use the Greek word here} who are responsible for your misery will keep receiving "standing ovations!" And they will continue to do that because "State of the Union For Dummies" addresses have proved to be an effective hypnotic for the population that works for them, not for you! Nikos Retsos, retired professor
#1 Posted by Nikos Retsos, CJR on Wed 26 Jan 2011 at 11:57 AM
And this seems to be "empty rhetoric" maybe "empty American rhetoric" is the mainstay of America's thinking be it politicians or those who listen to them
#2 Posted by S. Olofson, Soc. Sci teacher, CJR on Wed 26 Jan 2011 at 01:09 PM
AMEN, Nikos Restsos and S. Olofson.
I couldn't listen to the meaningless spin that says the opposite of what Obama, Demcorats and Republicans are doing to us. Even worse than listening to him babble on and on would have been hearing the clapping and seeing the pasted-on smiles of his live audience.
People fall for this stuff without bothering to stay informed. Millions of our taxpayer dollars went to "green jobs" only to have the companies send the jobs overseas. Check out the green jobs boondoggle in MA. $58 mil to Evergreen and the jobs went overseas. What's a green job anyways? Green is the cool word of the day - another way to make money but not for us.
This is the ruling class of wealthy elites who don't give a hoot about what happens to we the people or this country. It's all about power and unbridled greed and empire-building.
#3 Posted by dianne, CJR on Wed 26 Jan 2011 at 07:43 PM