Thursday, January 27, 2011

State of the Union

Like many Americans I listened to the State of the Union address with great interest.  The State of the Union address given by the President is a constitutional requirement.  Before FDR, presidents usually just sent a written document to the Congress and it was read into the record.  Mainly because of advances in communication technology the President now delivers the speech in person.  However, a written copy of the speech is sent to just about everyone imaginable prior to the speech.  All the news outlets, every member of Congress, and every talking head gets an advance copy.  When I am King, this won't happen.  I am not going to give every talking head a chance to pick apart my speech before it's given.  I am not going to give every member of Congress a chance to map out when they will applaud and when they won't.  I am going to make them do something they're not accustomed to doing - LISTENING!!!  If you want to take shots at me later, you'll have to listen and take notes instead of having some staffer do it for you. We have plenty of talking going on in Washington, but not nearly enough listening.  This could be a good first start.

3 comments:

  1. I think this is a great idea. Transcripts can be provided after.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you don't provide it to the TV networks, they won't know where to aim the cameras.

    We got advance notice of Gulf War I.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think this is a great idea. Transcripts can be provided after.

    ReplyDelete