Obama's State of the Union Address

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I can answer that question with a definitive: "Yes."

My union just voluntarily agreed to a new contract wherein we took a pay cut.

So there, Scrut

[/derail]

You're an overpaid physics teacher, so you should have taken a pay cut.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I have to wonder how Scrut feels about this kind of scenario. Scrut, when is it okay for those of us who have sacrificed, either voluntarily or not, to stand up and demand that those who make so much money, like this CEO, start to make their own sacrifices?

When you're the CEO.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Right, because 80K vs 20K is the same as +1M vs 20K. The wealthy keep getting wealthier, while the rest of us keep losing. It's the opposite of what I perceive as fair.

Why should my CEO get a huge pay increase, on the grade of millions, while I have to cut my pay? In fact, I'd be happy to stay the same salary, if the CEO for-go'd his millions of bonuses just to keep more of my co-workers employed.

It's funny how it's always the other guy who makes too much.

If you feel that your CEO makes too much money, then find another job if it bothers you that much.

 

[Bri]

Isn't the speech itself, or a briefing on its contents, usually released a bit before the actual speech? I seem to recall that from somewhere.

Yes, the full text of the speech is released to the other party and the media well in advance. In fact, the text of the rebuttal was released to the media well in advance.

That said, I found the rebuttal to be a pretty generic attack on Obama, and in some cases didn't seem to be responding to the same speech Obama had just given. For example, the rebuttal talked at length about how Obama refuses to change entitlement programs when Obama had just said that he was willing to change entitlement programs in exchange for some tax concessions from the GOP.

-Bri

 

[ravdin]

Obama's only part way through, but already I'm thinking, why on Earth are any of you skeptics rooting for the corrupt Republican clowns?

Why on earth did any of you skeptics bother to watch the Dear Leader's speech? Good for you if you want to vote for him, but I can find much better ways to spend an hour of my life than listening to any president repeat a laundry list of talking points.

 

[theprestige]

Why on earth did any of you skeptics bother to watch the Dear Leader's speech? Good for you if you want to vote for him, but I can find much better ways to spend an hour of my life than listening to any president repeat a laundry list of talking points.

I think of it as a kind of Battered Voter Syndrome: "The State of the Union Address hasn't meant much in the past, but this time will be different!"

I wouldn't mind going back to the custom of the President sending a memo about the state of the Union to congress, and having some secretary read it into the record.

There's really no need for Congress to go to all the trouble of inviting the President to come down and deliver a speech about stuff everybody already knows--or should know--anyway. Especially in this age of information. If all the points in the speech aren't on the President's website already, with an FAQ, they're doing it wrong.

If the President needs to present some new or unusual information to the legislature and the electorate, he already has a whole variety pack of bully pulpits to choose from. Do we really think anybody in attendance last night thought to themselves, "I'm really glad I took the time to sit here and listen to the President tell me that"?

The modern SOTU is really just an excuse for grandstanding and spectacle. Kind of like the Superbowl halftime show.

 

[seayakin]

Why on earth did any of you skeptics bother to watch the Dear Leader's speech? Good for you if you want to vote for him, but I can find much better ways to spend an hour of my life than listening to any president repeat a laundry list of talking points.

That is exactly why I haven't watched a speech in a while Democrat or Republican. I did enjoy my photography class last night.

 

[Travis]

Is it just me or does the entire concept of a rebuttal speech seem weird?

I mean if I give a speech on the state of the household budget does anyone expect someone else to demand and get a "rebuttal speech?"

 

[Cleon]

Why on earth did any of you skeptics bother to watch the Dear Leader's speech?

Erm...Really?

 

[eeyore1954]

Is it just me or does the entire concept of a rebuttal speech seem weird?

I mean if I give a speech on the state of the household budget does anyone expect someone else to demand and get a "rebuttal speech?"

If they were actually state of the union addresses instead of campaign speeches I would agree. But they aren't.

 

[ZirconBlue]

I took a pay cut too - along with all of my co-workers this year. It was NOT voluntary by any means, but the CEO of my company got a 7 million dollar bonus on TOP of his regular salary.

Well, he earned it. He saved the company a bunch of money on labor costs.

The modern SOTU is really just an excuse for grandstanding and spectacle. Kind of like the Superbowl halftime show.

Maybe they should combine the two, and have the SOTU speech as the Superbowl halftime show.

 

[ravdin]

Erm...Really?

My mistake. He's a great man and above any satire or sarcasm.

 

[Denver]

Maybe they should combine the two, and have the SOTU speech as the Superbowl halftime show.

Worst place for a wardrobe malfunction, ever.

 

[A Laughing Baby]

My mistake. He's a great man and above any satire or sarcasm.

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

 

[BenBurch]

Erm...Really?

There needs to be a new annex to Godwin's Law.

In fact, I'll name it;

Burch's Law: "In any argument, the first person to compare the other side to the leadership of NK loses, and has to pick up the bar tab."

 

[balrog666]

When you're the CEO.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

So how can anyone (politically) argue against the proposed Warren Buffet rule for a minimum tax for people with over $1 million in income?

I'm very interested to see where the right is still able to portray itself as a populist movement catering to working class people but argue that rejecting this minimum 30% tax is somehow in the interest of the "soon to haves".

 

[tyr_13]

When you're the CEO.

That's nonsense. The CEO isn't the owner of the business, he or she is just the one empowered by the owners to make operating decisions. If those decisions isolate him or her from their bad choices and let them not have to make sacrifices for bad business, bad business choices, or the like, that's normally detrimental to the company and share holds can and should object. When the problem that lets CEOs (or others) game the system is more, well, systemic, rules and regulations that address the destructive abuse are necessary. Anyone sharing the same business environment has a right to object and advocate.

 

[ZirconBlue]

Worst place for a wardrobe malfunction, ever.

Like that incident with Andrew Jackson's nipple ring?

 

[Spindrift]

Like that incident with Andrew Jackson's nipple ring?

I thought that was Andrew Johnson. Or maybe Andrew Jackson's johnson ring.