On Fluff

Tuesday night was filled with fluff. The president delivered his State of the Union address and five Republicans gave their responses. Obama’s speech over-glorified and overplayed some of the gains from the past six years while presenting fleeting glimpses into his plans for the new Congress. Meanwhile the Republicans underplayed all the gains the President previously mentioned. In effect, both parties wasted our time.

Perhaps the most “memorable” moment was during the closing minutes. Obama stated, “I have no more campaigns to run.” Then, after sarcastic Republican applause filled the room, he ad-libbed and added, “I know, because I won both of them.”

His State of the Union was filled with short and quirky one-liners. He even brought up Instagram once. This type of humor is not necessarily bad; it helped lighten the mood during the hour-long speech. But in proportion to substance, there was an excess of humor. He combined his witticisms with self-lauding approval to create an effectively empty speech. In fact, the President patted his back so much that he might have injured his rotator cuff.

Obama spent a large amount of time listing his accomplishments—the lowered unemployment rate, America’s leading role in energy production and the success of the Affordable Care Act. Of course, it is important to discuss these successes and how the country is prospering, that is why this speech is deemed the State of the Union. Nevertheless the problem, once again, was that he spent too much time applauding himself and too little time explaining his plans for the remaining two years of his second and final term.

The few plans he did mention lacked depth. He talked about raising taxes for the top 1 percent and lowering taxes for middle class families. He also proposed making community college free for the first two years. But he spent most of the time presenting broad plans regarding corporate regulations and the creation of “opportunities” for the middle class. He failed to discuss how he would go about accomplishing these arbitrary goals. He didn’t talk about the crisis in Yemen as he lauded his own foreign policies. The closest point we heard for a solution to any problem came from Obama as he talked about “middle class economics.” He pushed for bipartisanship, but many are aware that such a prospect is dismal. The GOP has already made it clear that it would not pass many of these bills.

Although not enough details were presented, his broad pushes were a step in the right direction. They were a strong call to action for Congress. He touched upon many topics, such as Keystone XL and the closing of tax loopholes. Even near the end of his presidential career, Obama is aiming high. A lot of what he said was what Americans wanted to hear, like paying the sick, maternity leave and tax cuts. Also, Obama’s optimism was in the right place. As the opposition, Republicans have played politics by trying to downplay the gains the country has made during the past six years. Although the country still has a long way to go, it is important to recognize that change is happening.

The Republican response was even worse. They did not mention bipartisanship and were littered with as much fluff as Obama’s address. Joni Ernst delivered the official Republican response. Her speech did not address the concerns of Americans. She smiled too much, laid out fewer plans than Obama did and spent most of her ten minutes talking about her hometown and childhood, specifically about bread bags she used to cover her shoes. Ernst’s speech was not a “response” though. It was a campaign speech, at most. And in some ways, it was not even a campaign speech— she did not make any promises or lay out any goals besides passing her plan of Keystone XL. She just mentioned quite a few political talking points, ironically the very thing Republicans accuse the Obama administration of doing.   

If the Republican speeches tell us anything, it is that they will continue more of the same old same old. All of the Republicans repeated the same sentiments about Obamacare, Keystone and government overreach. Rand Paul even repeated decades-old ideas like term-limits for all congressmen.

Overall, the speeches Tuesday night lacked substance. Both sides needed to talk more about their plans and course of action. That is what the U.S. wants and needs. We cannot have another do-nothing year. And unfortunately, if  truesday’s speeches indicate anything, it is that this year will be the same as the last.