9pm EST
It's a new year already? Seems like only yesterday Obama was giving the 2015 address. But this is a special year, as it's the last State of the Union from Obama ever. I also can't believe it's been almost EIGHT YEARS already, but we have to face sad and true facts. But cheer up, kiddos: next year we'll have a shiny NEW president giving the address! Oh boy! Will it be a democrat or republican? Whoa whoa let's slow it down a bit. The primary isn't even over yet, and this is Obama's night, so let's focus on the here and now.
Now maybe some of you don't know what the State of then Union. So here's a quick summary for you foreign folks or citizens that slept through government class: the State of the Union Address is a yearly speech the president gives before a large chunk of the federal government. Both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, top brass from the military, and so forth are in attendance. Its original purpose was for the president to give status update on how the country is doing but, politics being what they are, few presidents are willing to say anything besides "Awesome!" because to say otherwise is tantamount is declaring to the country that you fucked up. What the modern State of the Union does is give the president a platform to discuss his agenda for the new year, show off accomplishments from the prior year, and address concerns. Being one of the biggest audiences the president will have all year, it gives Obama the opportunity to communicate directly to the public and, if he's feeling sassy, call out the opposition party on their failures and/or blocking of the previous year's agenda. There are pros and cons.
What's interesting this year is that Obama is, more than ever, a lame duck, or an elected official who be it by vote or law cannot be reelected. This tends to make the official in question weaker, as opponents can stall for time and just wait out the official's term. And the US government is very good at stalling. However, it does come with some perks, namely the lack of restraint one normally has to show when they got an election to think about. As Obama is in his last year, he can really enter a 'give no fucks" mentality since he doesn't have an election or even political capital to worry about, freeing him up to really push for some things on his To-Do List before leaving office. However, this is a tad tempered by the fact that Obama does have to play nice to some degree in order to help his party secure the upcoming Presidential election.
This thread is special, and has special rules:
- This thread is temporary. It will be locked at an undisclosed time after the address is over. Do not take it upon yourself to make a new thread: this is a one-time deal.
- People exist out there with opinions different from yours. This is unfortunate, but such is life. It is difficult to have a manageable discussion if people are yelling back and forth at each other, so please keep a calm head when engaging with people. Spirited debate is fine, but posts full of catty insults and huge posts that dissect another's person post with 50 quote tags makes for a thread that is almost impossible to read for all but a handful of people.
- Do not engage with assholes. If someone is spouting off shitty rhetoric (racism, sexism, transphobia, etc.), then report them. Replying to their nonsense just derails the thread and, honestly, they're most likely shitty trolls with no interest in discourse. Don't waste your time on them.
- Being SE++, the thread will not always be on topic. This generally isn't a problem during the meat of the State of the Union, but things may derail a bit before and after to talk about hot topics of the day. Don't get too bent out of shape over this.
"Dark Lord" Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
State of the Union
The main event. Obama will have the lion's share of media coverage and (in most cases) speaking time, so this is what most people will be paying attention to. Obama did an NRA no-no by pushing an executive order to tighten up gun laws, so that will most likely be a topic tonight, especially in light of all the shootings in 2015. You can also expected standard talk regarding ISIS and terrorism, and maybe even calling out the Oregon terrorists just to rile up the Republicans. He'll probably also urge the Republican Senate and House to actually do something with him instead of trying to block everything he does. Planned Parenthood and the budget war over it might be an example of that.
Expected Topics: Gun Control, terrorism, immigration, the economy, and how to finally eliminate the white man.
Nikki "Anti-Flag" Haley
Governor of South Carolina
Republican Response
This is the third year the Republicans have picked a woman to give the opposition response; a sort of nominal gesture to pretend that the GOP cares about women. Can't really blame them since women seem to have a better track record for the response than the men have. There doesn't seem to be much anticipation for this, which isn't terribly surprising since the goal of these things in recent years is basically "don't fuck up. Expect a lot of whining about guns and how terrorists will kill us all. If there is one positive thing I have to say about Haley is that she was one of the people who took a stance against the Confederate flag being raised over federal and state buildings, so good on her.
Expected Topics: Government is bad, abortion is bad, people of color are bad, and guns are our most precious freedom.
Wayne "Fraud Detector" Root
Writer
Tea Party Response
A libertarian author. I don't know much about him, but based on the titles of his books this should be a laugh riot.
Expected Topics: Hopefully something as funny as Inequality Godzilla.
Also, Kshama Sawant will be giving the Socialist Party response, and I'll link to that when I get it. Some people like it, as it does actually raise sound criticisms against the Obama Administration, and is probably the opposing response you want to watch if your goal tonight is not listening to racist assholes in the hopes that they'll say something hilariously stupid.