Respect Authority

Despite a head cold that’s made it near-impossible for me to enjoy my favorite herbal refreshment, I managed to tune in - soberly - for President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation yesterday evening. 

The spiel, which included any number of morale boosters and both long- and short-term promises, instilled in me that same national pride afforded by any of the president’s statements. That said, I find myself a little speech-weary these days. Show me an inspiratial Obama speech and I’ll show you a country that’s still totally fucked. 

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t lost faith. Rather I’m simply concerned, like any American who’s started to see the effects of the recession. And for the first time since he became a public figure, Obama was just a little less adept at hiding his own concern. 

After months of touting a progressive effort to look forward instead of back, the president was throwin’ bows last night, sniping about the deficit he inherited, the war his predecessor mismanaged, and the economy decades of past presidents, executives and regulators let grow exponentially on the back of fabricated money. He also outlined, rather frankly, some of the most impressive failings in America today: if you drop out of high school, you’re a loser. If you bought or are buying a home ludicrously out of your price range, you are a loser. And if you decide to redecorate your office in the midst of a recession your very company helped create (I’m looking at you John Thain), you too are a loser. 

Luckily for Obama, and in a “kicked while they’re down” scenario for Republicans everywhere, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s GOP response was nothing if not awkward, ill-prepared and 75% off topic. The speech, which Gawker phenomenally pegged as a real-life incarnation of 30 Rock’s hillbilly/aid Kenneth - included gems like “as a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad,” and some weird metaphor involving volcanoes. Moreover, although Jindal can hardly be blamed for Hurricane Katrina, he made a mistake in alluding to Louisiana as a model for fiscal and governmental success: New Orleans is basically Sodom and Gomorrah these days. By the end of Jindal’s clip, I was ready to spend another $740 bajillion just to get him off screen. 

Barack Obama has always wanted to, and promised to, make us a country full of winners. We should be at the forefront of new industries and technology, without sacrificing national integrity in the interest of a bottom line. But last night was the first time I got a whiff of impatience from the poised president: before we can be a nation of winners, we have to undo the mistakes of quite a few losers.