Thought for Food

Obama as jovial national daddy

Jan’s analysis is, as always, spot on. She begins with criticism (spending freeze, “entitlement commission,” phantom Iranian nuclear threat), then moves to praise (financial aid for higher education, withdrawal from two wars, cracking down on lobbyists), and finishes with this:

The best of the speech was its informal authority. He talked to these Congresscritters (and the Supreme Court) like the fractious first graders they act like. And they took it. They have to — he’s not personally cowed by them; he’s willing to talk with them; it’s clear they can’t figure out how to handle him. He gave nice props to the House for passing the hard stuff it has tackled this year — and by implication told the Senators they sucked, all with a lovely smile.

It was a pleasure to watch Joe Biden enjoying himself. It was a pleasure to see Nancy Pelosi simply enjoying his takedown of her silly brood — I am often very critical of her as my Congresswoman, but she sure seems to be good at the role of Speaker that she so much sought.

I didn’t expect to come away from the SOTU anything but mad and discouraged, but I was wrong. Just maybe, with enough popular pressure, Obama’s presidency doesn’t have to be a complete flop.