A Washington Where Every Day Is Election Day

While Republicans have returned to their usual stomping ground of smaller government, it is not hard to point out that President H.W. Bush presided over a massive expansion of the federal government and, frankly, went a little wacky with spending. It is a pale comparison to the insanity the DNC wants to unleash, but Republicans will have to live it down. Maybe next time they will not make such a colossal blunder of the thing.

Anyway, I could go on with a specific analysis of the speech, but the Internet’s already swimming with in-depth, in-depth, up-Joe-Biden’s-Nose coverage of the specifics. I’m just going to hit on a few things I found fascinating in this State of the Union that was, frankly, more of a stump speech than a national report card.

The U.S. government’s support of high-speed rail lines will revitalize the economy? Who on God’s green earth wants to get to Tampa quickly? Well, if China is doing it, it must make sense! Last time I checked we still had roughly three and a half times the GDP of the People’s Republic of China, and they can only get that far by making many citizens work as slaves as they die of thyroid cancer in their thirties. Pollution controls?! Those are an impediment to a growing economy! Here’s an idea: why not make a stand against the horrific abuses of the Chinese state, instead of citing them as a reason to build more trains.

Then there is the President’s casual insult directed to the Supreme Court. FDR, who had a notoriously problematic relationship with the Supreme Court, only criticized it once, and it was done in such an oblique way that an argument could be made it was simply a caution for the judiciary not limit the other branches unduly. The normally staid Supreme Court justices (you will notice they never react during a president’s speeches, as that might be construed as political bias) were obviously perturbed by the blatant attack on the judicial branch. Justice Alito actually mouthed the words “not true” when President Obama extolled the negative impact of their recent decision on campaign finance reform. You don’t like the Supreme Court’s decision? That’s fine. Don’t bring it up in the State of the Union.