Last Tuesday was the traditional State of the Union address. We needed an inspiring orator to convince us that we were out the woods on the road to see the Wizrad of OZ.
Cicero was the superlative orator in the roman senate . He was so good that eventually it cost him his head …and his hands. President Roosevelt had a clear metallic voice emphasized by the mikes of the times. His aphorisms were memorable but short of oratorical recollection. Nixon was a good story teller about dogs. He carried the conviction of Al Capone protesting of his innocence. JFK was the utmost orator with his tousled hair taking us to the moon with Camelot. Bill Clinton is a superb orator as long as he does not deceive us into an impeachment.
President Obama last Tuesday in his State of the union address appeared as a chastened leader after a drubbing in the November election rather than the rock-star politician who swept in 2008 into national consciousness with such clarity of voice and vision.
Obama wants to use government to revive the US economy. He has calculated that he can only do so if Americans believe he is tightening the belt on the bloated monster in Washington. At times Obama sounded more like the CEO of a failing company with a $1.5 trillion debt, a Social Security in the red with funds exhausted by 2037. He voiced the classic unsuccessful proposals: a government spending freeze, ineffectual budget cuts, unworkable earmarks suppression , an unfeasible simplified tax code and problematic investment in a bullet speed train, one million electric cars and nuclear energy plants.
As Alexander said: “Investment is a bad word when it’s used as a cover for just more random spending.”
Maybe by next year the economy will have completely recovered and we can believe again In the promises of the young orator who catalyzed the voters before.
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