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| State of the Union Address |
Choux... |
01/25/07 |
".....I thought of Willy Loman as I watched George Bush deliver his State of the Union address. Here was a man like Willy who was absolutely confident of his own charm, a personality man who had nothing of substance to sell; a man who brings ruin to all around him as he clings to his fantasies of success. Only unlike Willy, George Bush is our Salesman of Death. He stood there delivering his tired spiel, unpacking his tawdry goods; the misbegotten war, while peddling terror and no taxes as if they were shiny new stock. He dragged out all the initiatives that he should have considered six years ago, which now seemed shopworn, threadbare, and counterfeit in his hands, new sources of energy, health care, and his disastrous No Child Left Behind and its destruction of our educational system. Never has America had a leader who is so incorruptible, because there is nothing in George Bush that could be corrupted. To corrupt someone implies that they begin with some virtue, and it was difficult to think of any virtue known to man possessed by this President.
George W. Bush had death to sell to the Congress and the American people, the death of our young soldiers to be sacrificed to his desperate need for another chance, another big score, all part of his fantasy of success, and his dread of failure. As even the Democrats in Congress bobbed up and down in response to his lies and banalities, I was a bit confused, and annoyed; then I realized that nobody was paying close attention to his words, this sign of deference may have been an effort to stay awake, like the snoozing John McCain, or the jumping up and down of Nancy Pelosi to keep her foot from falling asleep. I expected Laura, like the loyal Linda Loman, to shout out from the balcony, "Attention must be paid," but instead she was playing a game of three card Monte, undoubtedly taught to her by Rove himself, exploiting the heroism of an African American working man, one who never enjoyed any of the benefits of Bush's America, to distract from her husband's failures and lend George some of this hero's aura. Perhaps the real Linda Loman was Condi Rice whose face was a mask of tragedy. Medea or Medusa, take your pick, it was awful to behold in its desperation for Condi like Laura and the Cheneys the tragedy wasn't what they had done to America, but what they had lost for themselves, power, respect, and honor. Perhaps the material profits of war are not enough for some people. Sadly, one knows that George W. will never have a moment when he understands how he went wrong, and what a disaster he has brought down on the American family. The big difference between that great play and this President is that you could weep for Willy Loman but never for this salesman of death."
Part of an excellent blog by Sherman Yellen.
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I was specially touched by his reference to the twisted, angonized face of Condi Rice when she was captured on camera. Her face told it all about the Bush years, the Bush failures...most specially the failure of the Iraqi War. |
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 01/25/07 4:03 pm:
Elliot . One could argue that it is a tradition I guess but it is one that evolved . Like I mentioned ,in the 19th century it was unheard of . The President just submitted his wish list to Congress. Wilson in 1913 changed all that and since then it has become more theatrical and absurd .
It was LBJ who moved the address to prime time and that promted the first opposition party response. Ronald Reagan and to a lesser extent Clinton set an impossible rhetorical standard for their predecessors to achieve ,and with the constant interuptions for phony applauding I find it more useful to read the content of the speech the next day .
I watch it to primarily see the camera pans of facial expressions and to see who is taking a snooze.
I don't mind the concept of addressing a joint session of Congress but I think it should be limited to momentous occasions .To expect the SOTU message to meet that expectation is to invite disappointment .
Clarification/Follow-up by tropicalstorm on 01/25/07 7:31 pm:
I heard the Nancy's were blinking 25 blicks a minute and making weird sounds with their tongue
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