State of the Yawnion

The President fulfilled his Constitutional obligation to address the Congress once a year, and gave us his long, boring, stupid State of the Union address this evening. While Bill Clinton used to give endless and tedious laundry lists of lame governmental programs, at least, as a Democrat, he believed doctrinally that the government should do good for the public… even in stupid things like school uniforms.
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, by contrast, appear to believe that the purpose of government is to enrich themselves and their friends, and basically, otherwise is merely a big gimmick to hold power for their own personal wealth and power maximization. Indeed the only reason for government to “do good” at all is to maintain the pretense necessary to keep getting reelected by a not-very-bright public, a pretense that has finally failed them after 12 years of unbridled Republican Congressional corruption, the last 6 years of which included unbridled Republican Executive incompetence, corruption and dictatorial overreach. And so, since the actual mechanics of the government doing anything much (except, of course, taking away people’s right to sue for injuries inflicted upon them by the powerful, for example, or taking away precious liberties for the illusion of security in the very same way a Mafia protection racket does) are so constitutionally (small c) anathema to this man… one could almost see the physical tension as he offered forth his pathetic laundry list of pathetic non-issues, including a meaningless energy policy (though he did perk up about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve), a tax deduction to purchase private health insurance to be given to people who generally don’t have enough income to actually benefit from it, and the acknowledgment that there is a global climate change problem while offering precisely nothing by way of means to solve it, except lip service, of course, while refusing to take responsibility for having hired industry propagandists on the government payroll to deny that there even is a problem, let alone that a governmental response is the only solution.
At least the President seemed to perk up a bit in the second half, as he tried to get that old 9-11 fearmongering mojo back… but alas… it’s gone now. Five years (and a lost Congressional election) seem all too long… While mentioning the need to attack Syria and Iran… while we stay the course plus in Iraq… his heart didn’t seem to be in it. The recognition of the need for “bipartisanship” given that he was addressing Nancy Pelosi as Speaker rather than Dennis Hastert… just seems to have taken the last of his swagger away (and good riddance to it, I for one, say.)
But that still doesn’t mean he was the least bit chastened, or that he wasn’t totally shameless… no, no, no. Halliburton and Exxon Mobil and Boeing must still get their taxpayer money… so it can be funneled back to Republican campaign coffers and the occasional numbered bank account. The Saudis still need to maintain oil hegemony within OPEC… Iraqi oil needs to remain safely under Iraq. These things will require American troops to continue to risk their lives in Iraq. And that racket, ladies and gentlemen, will go on unabated… the will of the people or their elected representatives or a 28% approval rating be damned.
And thus, the state of the union is found.
Update: Almost poetically, Watergate burglar and organizer E. Howard Hunt passed away at 88, the very same day that his boss’s ideological heir (though intellectual inferior) gave a speech at the (thus far) nadir of his Presidency… and the opening remarks in Scooter Libby’s trial took place… curiouser and curiouser…