Obama's first State of the Union: What he will say vs. what he should say
So tonight Barack Obama gives his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress before millions at home muttering back at their TV's and a predictably partisan audience of House and Senate members following or ignoring the signals of the woman up front, this time likely wearing power red, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
We're predicting the administration's dresser goes with a blue tie tonight for VP Joe Biden, leaving the bolder red to his boss.
Pelosi will be sitting behind the president's left shoulder and, according to her past practice, will be jumping up and sitting down like a set of pistons at 5,000 RPM's applauding enthusiastically, with Biden following suit but more slowly because he's seen so many of these shows since 1972 when Obama was only 11.
State of the Union speeches are democratic rituals and grand political theater that end up meaning very little. A Gallup study shows the 50 minutes or so of presidential palaver (yes, we'll be....
...live-blogging it here and will have the full transcript as always, plus the ensuing Republican response by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell) rarely have any detectable or lasting effect on public opinion.
Only Bill Clinton among modern chief executives enjoyed a poll bounce of a modest 3% average and short duration, despite all the contemporary attention focused on the remarks and the frequent interruptions for (Applause).