Politics

Meanwhile, at The Parker-Spitzer Blog, I Call Obama's SOTU a "Failure"

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The folks over at CNN's Parker Spitzer asked me (among other guests of the show) to comment on Barack Obama's State of the Union Address. Here's a snippet of my review:

The State of the Union is about the most-overhyped event this side of the Golden Globes: This year's winners are immediately forgotten and then indifference *really* sets in. With that as a baseline, this speech has got to be considered a failure.

The emphasis on "winning the future" (the title of a widely unread book by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich) marries the worst of the ad-talk-lingo that pervades politics like second-hand smoke and a juvenile emphasis on treating everything like a sporting event.

"We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world"? Are we talking about our lives or a new season of Survivor ("Outwit, Outplay, Outlast")? We're already outspending the world on just about everything, especially defense spending. Can't we declare victory and get on with our lives already?

More, including likening Obama to "a gambler whose plan is to leave the table after a double-or-nothing score," here.

Earlier today, Veronique de Rugy and I argued that "We Can't Win the Future by Repeating the Past."

A couple of weeks ago, my moustache and I appeared on Parker Spitzer to talk debt ceiling, Boehner's tears, and more. Have a look, if you'd like: