State of the Union

You know, I don't care if it was all for TV. I don't care if it was a lot of fluff and little of substance. I don't care if there were no substantive policy announcement shockers. (That's just not how we do business anymore.)

I liked it. I liked the whole event, and not just the President's speech.

I liked the chamber all mixed up together instead of sharply divided at an aisle. I liked that the Speaker of the House (from the opposition party) responded to the speech professionally rather than sitting there with a stone face. I liked that all the legislators stood and clapped for the obvious pro-America applause lines rather than sitting silently with copies of the We Won't Clap for Anything this Guy Says memo clutched tightly in their fists.

So what if it was theater? For far too long we have had too much ugliness to even pretend to be friends. I'm all for pretending if it gets us back to civility and the appearance of being able to work together to find a little common ground.

Principles are lovely and important, but compromise seems to be where legislation happens. Failing everything else, a little mutual respect and a lot less demonizing of the other is awfully nice.