A Hagmann & Hagmann Review of Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address

By S. Daily Warren
special correspondent to the Hagmann & Hagmann Report

(wife) “Honey, the State of the Union is on tv.”
(husband) “Oh. Is it too early for a drink?”
Snapshot of the average American household on Jan. 20, 2015

The man who coined the phrase “Liars figure but figures never lie” obviously never served as an appointee to the Bureau of Labor, and while no reliable statistics or polling data exists as to the true elevated pulse rate of the American people when it comes to President Obama’s popularity it’s safe to say that of the 33 million people watching his address, most were yawning.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a masterful speech delivered by a masterful orator. It was and he is. Obama seems to have almost entirely weaned himself away from the TOTUS (teleprompter of the United States) and he was animated Tuesday night and succeeded admirably in appearing almost sincere. None of this, however, prevented the 2015 address from receiving the lowest Nielsen rating numbers since a post-Lewinsky/post-impeachment Bill Clinton delivered his address in 2000. 

Another great adage is the jocular query, “how can you tell when a politician lying? Answer: his lips are moving.” But as pundits rushed to fact check Obama’s speech, pro and con, it actually appears as if he were for the most part telling the truth when relying upon statistics to buttress up his assertions in an undeniably trademark democratic speech to a newly elected republican congress. That is, of course, if you believe federal statistics. As an example, Obama claimed 11 million new jobs have been created and according to the labor statistics that is a fairly close figure, thanks to the service industry. Also that math and reading scores are up along with high school graduation rates and was even accurate about the money Americans are saving at the pump in light of plummeting gas prices. Many if not most Americans may not like the man, but he didn’t wander too far from statistical facts, albeit somewhat slanted facts and of dubious bureaucratic origin.

He did receive a few well-deserved raspberries in claiming Iran’s nuclear program progress has been halted and that ISIL’s advances in the Middle East have been stopped. To quote an ancient beat reporter with a brazen sense of irony, “That’s news to me!” The budget deficits in the fed may have indeed been reduced by two-thirds (the figure is actually 71%) but that is almost entirely a result of a massive increase in tax revenues gouged out of the lives of struggling middle class families. If someone were truly looking for a flat-out lie they need search no farther than this fragment, “…since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this capitol.” Technically, he mangled his first oath and was compelled to retake it in private chambers shortly after this public display of his speaking prowess.

Yes, Obama is looking a bit more presidential these days and a very democratic one at that with lots to say about climate change being a national security threat, the need for a higher federal minimum wage standard and the closing of Guantanamo Bay. The 2015 address was as much a pain reliever to congressional democrats who’ve taken it on the chin lately as it was an ipecac to republicans like Speaker of the House John Boehner whose only facial expressions emerging from his taciturn visage above his trademark pastel tie was a grimace. The contrast of seeing Vice-President Biden, smug and smarmy as always, giving a standing ovation while Boehner clapped unenthusiastically from his seat tells us everything we know about the chronically unhealed divide in American bipartisan politics.

Yet we must remember this is drama at its finest and most expensive, rivaling any big Hollywood blockbuster. And so effective it is that even some of the characters responding from the aisles of congress didn’t know they were actors in a play. You clap when he says something you like, you stand when he mentions veterans and you smile and nod your head when he upholds the safety of children or the importance of economic dominance, all right on cue. The speech, like so much of national politics seeping from Washington like a leaky septic tank, was all the more convincing for its orchestrated non-orchestration.

But what was the message? What was the true agenda? And where is it taking us? The idea that Obama is setting himself up as a perpetual monarch that won’t be ousted from office is no more convincing than the Bureau of Labor statistics he cited. The man is happier on a golf course in Hawaii or strolling on the beach with Reggie Love. One may remember his first year in office when he wandered like an errant puppy away from his Secret Service handlers, giving them the slip, to hit the streets of Chicago to perhaps so goodbye to an old life. If he’s a tyrant then he’s not a very convincing one, although the moniker of tyrannical puppet might not be too far off the mark. He may look presidential now but a safe bet is that he’ll go running from the White House the moment his 2^nd term is up.

But someone else may have looked presidential that night. In what some commentators are calling the worst republican response to a State of the Union address ever, junior Iowa Senator Jodi Ernst (no relation to Ernst Stavro Blofeld of James Bond villainy) was handpicked to give the rebuttal, which in actuality was no rebuttal at all. Senator Ernst with her sassy short hair cut and gleaming smile atop her military posture made few if any refutations of Obama’s facts or policies, instead talking about her life growing up as a farm girl in the heartland. She worked the morning biscuit line at Hardee’s and plowed the fields with her dad in her one pair of shoes before getting on the school bus with plastic bags on her feet to protect that precious, singular footwear from the elements. But don’t cry for her, Argentina, because all the other kids were similarly attired in down-to-earth Iowa.

Congratulations, America. You may have just been introduced to the GOP’s favored candidate for the 2016 presidential elections. But how can that be, you may ask. Her speech was stiff and her smile unconvincing, and as a republican she was even wearing blue for crying out loud. Exactly. Now allow for a real introduction to Jodi Ernst.

She’s the first woman veteran to sit in the halls of the U.S. Senate, having served as a company commander in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003-2004 and still retaining the rank of lt. colonel in the National Guard. This heartland sweetheart believes in the 10^th amendment and the nullification of federal laws. She wants the IRS abolished along with the Department of Education, instead favoring the 50 states for the indoctrination of our children, an undeniably state’s rights position. She opposes the federal minimum wage, supports a partial privatization of social security, has spoken out against the U.N.’s Agenda 21, backs the citizen’s rights to the open carrying of firearms and even received an “A” rating from the NRA. Just because she hasn’t received the standard high-gloss polishing (yet) from D.C. handlers and image consultants doesn’t mean she is not perfectly poised to garner resounding grass roots appeal the likes of which would make Rand Paul salivate. And everyone knows that the message from on high is this: it’s time for a woman in the White House.

Junior Senator Jodi Ernst may very well be the woman to watch in the upcoming election, edging in delicately and subtly to once again nudge Hillary Clinton further away from her dreams of the highest office, and we have had 6 years to reflect on the fact that the junior senator from nowhere approach can work like a charm. Again, orchestrated drama of the highest order, made palatable and believable by its very non-orchestrated nature. They have run the little lady up the flagpole and are now seeing if anyone salutes her, or more insidiously, if anyone notices that she’s being groomed. Our own handlers do like their little surprises in tidy little packages with just the right appeal and just the right amount of mascara.

This may not have been a State of the Union address at all. Perhaps what we’re witnessing is the first opening chess moves of the changing of the guard.

(S. Daily Warren is an award-winning reporter, writer and columnist who supports state’s rights, the Constitution, healthy food and the Bible. He currently resides in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and invites you to follow his blog at: http://overthetopandback.blogspot.com/)