Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Un-Live Blogging The State of the Union

8:10 pm - I like it when Joe Biden cheers. He is cheering louder than everyone else, and you can hear his voice over the TV. It reminds me of that scene in "Rome" when Titus Pollo is cheering for Caesar louder than anyone else, even though he is actually cheering because he knows that Caesar's son is actually his own. That's a metaphor.

8:11 pm - Yes! First historical reference: The First Battle of Bull Run. Despite initial setbacks, America always finds a way to rally and win in the end. Plus, we're gonna stick it to the South again.

8:13 pm - "1 in 10 Americans cannot find work." PBS cuts to Timothy Geithner. Booooo.....

8:15 pm - John McCain looks angry. Drink.

8:17 pm - "Americans deserve a government that embodies their strength." Biden just about lept out of his seat on that line. Seriously, he is psyched about this speech. He also keeps nodding and clapping when no else is.

8:18 pm - "I hate the bank bail-out... The bank bail-out is as popular as a root canal." Zing! Cut to Geihtner. (Booooo.... "He's a witch!" "Burn him!" "Make a bridge out of him!")

8:21 pm - The Republicans refused to applaud when Obama talked about tax cuts, and he called them out on it. He's gotten as many laughs as he has rounds of applause so far. He looks to me like he's relaxed and having fun. Or maybe he's just being flippant. You say tomato, I say vodka.

8:24 pm - "Jobs must be our #1 focus in 2010." The Republicans are applauding that one.

8:26 pm - John Boehner has the worst fake tan ever.

8:29 pm - "I want a jobs bill on my desk right away." The House Democrats are applauding that like crazy, and are way more excited than their Senate counterparts. I know that other people have said this before, but why is the U.S. Senate the only legislative body where you cannot pass bills with a simple majority, but some kind of mysterious and sacred "super majority"?

8:32 pm - "I am not interested in punishing banks." Cut to Chris Dodd. The ball is in your court now, Eyebrows.

8:33 pm - I like that Obama is calling out the Senate while he praises the House for passing necessary legislation. It is squarely on Harry Reid's shoulders to get something done, and he, so far, as proved to not be up to that task at all.

8:35 pm - "I am grateful to the House for passing such a bill last year." That's 3, Reid.

8:36 pm - "I know some disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on global warming." Zing! Obama can be so sassy sometimes. Especially when he's trying really hard not to be pissed.

8:41 pm - Education reform. Again, the major theme so far seems to be that, while the House has been getting things done, the Senate has just been sitting on their... hands.

8:42 pm - "I asked Vice President Biden to chair a taskforce on middle class families." Cut to Biden: "Oh, shit! I completely forgot to do that!"

8:43 pm - Healthcare. Bum bum bum. "First, let's clear some things up." Run laugh tracks.

8:45 pm - I like it when Michelle Obama smirks and glares at her husband. "She gets embarrassed," he says, to a laugh. I think she's just criticizing him with her eyes.

8:48 pm - Mitch McConnell looks like a turtle.

8:49 pm - The national debt. Also known as the, "Why George Bush Sucks" part of the speech. Cut to John McCain. He's laughing.

8:51 pm - Woah. PBS just cut to a crazy roof camera shot. That just gave some wicked vertigo.

8:54 pm - That was weird. Obama just announced a spending freeze to huge applause, and then, after the applause, said that it would begin... next year. Then everyone laughed. Very surreal.

8:56 pm - The local PBS channel just cut out. Switching to ABC.

8:57 pm - Calling out the Supreme Court on allowing unlimited corporate investments in political elections. Then everyone stands and applauds: Shame! Shame on you Supreme Court! Seriously, though. You guys do suck.

9:02 pm - Awesome, calling out the Republicans. Robyn hears a boo or two.

9:04 pm - Switching to foreign policy. Shot of Janet Napolitano looking worried.

9:05 pm - Al Franken is sitting right behind the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For a second, I thought that he was a general. That would be weird. And awesome.

9:06 pm - "This war is ending, and all our troops are coming home." Applause from both sides of the aisle. Joe Lieberman looks sad.

9:10 pm - I love it when they cut to the scan camera and you can see that all of the Senators who are not standing and applauding are madly Twittering away.

9:13 pm - Obama just promised to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. ABC cut to the Joint of Chiefs of Staff all looking very stern and army-y and not gay at all so don't even think about it. (Except for maybe Al Franken.)

9:16 pm - Hmmmm... probably not the best idea to title your speech, "2010: We're Starting to Lose Faith."

9:17 pm - That dude was totally picking his nose.

9:20 pm - Obama just looked at the camera for the first time in his speech at the very, very end of the whole thing. The man definitely grew up in the age of television.

3 comments:

Cab said...

Talk about sassy!

r wright said...

I particularly liked Obama's zinger on the supreme court's decision, and the camera panned to them, and I swear they were all slouched down in their seats trying to look invisible.

Joel said...

Yeah, I'm so angry about that Supreme Court decision. It constantly amazes me how so many justices are evaluated based on how they will vote on Roe v. Wade, when there are so many other important issues that nobody gives ten cents about.