Do It Live: Live Blogging the State of the Union (9 PM EST)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 5:56PM 
The Snob is liveblogging the President's first State of the Union Address. Click here for all the excitement. We go live at 9 PM EST.
10:26 PM: Thanks to everyone for joining in to check out the live blog! It was CRAZY considering Busboy's wifi kept kicking me off and I was trying to blog at New Security Action AND gmail went plotz on me so I couldn't monitor comments and lost all communication with my boss, Tom Andrews, NSAction's executive director. Other than that ... A SUCESS! LOL.
10:25 PM: I'm going to have to re-read the speech to pick out things that stood out to me. That was a lot to digest. I heard some things I wanted to hear, but I need to go down my check list to see what didn't make the cut.
10:22 PM: Things not touched with a ten-foot-pole in speech -- Afghanistan and Gitmo. My boss isn't going to like that.
10:20 PM: "We don't quit and I don't quit." He really hit one home there on the inspirational angle.
10:19 PM: Hmm ... it lives on. I'm sensing a theme here.
10:17 PM: "The only reason we are here is because of generations of Americans who weren't afraid to do what was hard."
10:15 PM: I was worried the Joint Chiefs were going to black out when he called for the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell.
10:13 PM: President points out that we actually have a Civil Rights division in the DOJ that ... you know? Actually fights for civil rights. How novel.
10:09 PM: Ah, the rarely pulled off double Ronald Reagan - JFK shout-out.
10:06 PM: Obama just mentioned the Iraq pull-out deadline. August. Now that's a campaign promise I want to see fulfilled ... like tomorrow.
10:02 PM: Oooo. Did the President just tell the Democrats to stop being perpetual bitches? I'm liking this speech!
10:00 PM: Obama calls out the party of no. Essentially telling Republicans to stop blocking progress for the sake of progress. Then talks about the waging of the perpetual campaign atmosphere in our government.
9:58 PM: Obama points out how clearly wrong the recent Surpreme Ct. decision on campaign finance to their faces. Someone sitting there in their robe didn't like that. Roberts just got owned.
9:55 PM: The deficit of trust -- Obama talks about how to increase government's crediblity, calling for a more open government. Crack down on lobbyiests.
9:52 PM: And the spending freeze that doesn't include defense goes over in Busboys like a lead balloon. The guy sitting next to me yells for John Lewis to sit down because MLK wouldn't have stood up for that ish.
9:50 PM: Obama points out the whole "we ain't got no money" situation. We has a surplus. We lost a surplus. We got more debt. We didn't pay for wars. Another reminder that we were broke before he even came here. "Just statin' facts!" he says.
9:45 PM: A shout-out to Michelle who's taking on childhood obesity. Yay Michelle! Cure us fatties! Of course she tells everyone to pipe down that applause. "She gets embarassed," the President explains.
9:45 PM: Obama admits he didn't do health care to be popular. He ain't neva lied.
9:42 PM: "In the United States of America, no one should go broke trying to go to college," Obama says. Then calls on institutions to um ... something about those fees. Alas, it's too late for my dad who forked over all that dough putting three snobs through school.
9:40 PM: "The best anti-poverty plan going around is a world-class education." I agree with that. Especially considering we spend more on education than anyone and get kids who can barely find the US on a map.
9:36 PM: The Busboys crowd is not feeling this drill, baby drill, clean coal part of the speech. It's boo time.
9:33 PM: I'm impressed with Veep Joe Biden's ability to act like he's amused, surprised, never-heard-any-of-this before. He's got the nod going. The grimace. Let someone shout out "You lie" this time. Mad Dawg Joe's got something for that.
9:31 PM: Obama announcing light rail system and green jobs. Obama says he's got mad trains, son. Trains!
9:30 PM: Man. John Boehner is seriously orange on a Nuclear fallout level. Day-Glo orange. Tang orange. Sunny D, even.
9:29 PM: Ah. The mocking of the slowness of the Senate. The House is obviously pretty proud of it's ability to acutally push legislation through without boring everyone to death.
9:27 PM: So ... will there be a return of Pop-Up Pelosi this year?
9:26 PM: Someone just texted me to tell me that Peter Osrzag is pretty hot. I'm trying to work here!
9:23 PM: Don't be mad at Harry. It's past his bedtime. Take some uppers next time, Reid!
9:22 PM: Speech not exciting for Harry Reid who the camera catches yawning.
9:20 PM: So. He's going to fine the biggest banks? Can he get Bank of America to stop being evil? I wouldn't bank with them if it weren't for the fake that they keep buying whatever old bank my money used to be with.
9:18 PM: President admits the bank bail out sucked. "I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal."
9:16 PM: The President is opening with the hard ugly truth we deal with everyday. Shorter version of Prez opening, "Same shit. Different messed up day."
9:14 PM: President Obama, stop trying to make me cry talking about little kids sending you letters about how messed up life is right now for their parents.
9:06 PM: And there he is. The leader of the Union. The big cheese. And he's gone with the red tie. Nothing says "Leader of the Free World" like a red tie.
9:01 PM: The First Lady looks awesome as usual in the royal purple. Busboys (of course) is watching the MSNBC feed. So we've got Maddow in one ear and Olbermann in the other.
8:45 PM: Sitting in Busboys and Poets getting ready to live blog the State of the Union. Naturally, they have an open mic going just before the shindig. I'm also trying to update my OTHER blog for work and keep our Twitter feed going. Tonight should be interesting. May the internet stay hot and my host not flake out on me.
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Reader Comments (14)
Still handsome--even under pressure!
Seems like George Snufaluffagas got it wrong. Obama is not wearing a purple tie to represent the moderate nature of his appeal.
Still blaming Bush, blah blah blah.
Clearly Obama has forgotten that most of the banks that got a loan have paid it back. Why doesn't he go after those that haven't paid it back?
Not once has he blamed the Bush administration. It seems to me he has been avoiding to reference the last administration. He realizes that tactic is not going to work. I think he really is trying to address as much as he can, he is doing a pretty good job. He is telling the people and the union what he wants and agrees with.
Scott - did or did Bush not declare two wars with no plan, or realistic plan (Iraqui Oil) to pay for them? Did he or did he not push through a huge tax cut and prescription plan with no plan to pay for it? (he did, I got the tax cut) ... he is owning HIS trillion....
He hit Afghanistan... said everyone was coming home....
Great job Snob.
divaliscious11:
I don't know if Bush had a plan or not. What was so wrong with Bush's tax cuts?
Snob:
As far as Afghanistan and Gitmo, why would Obama start keeping his promises about then now? Talk about a trust deficit.
My bad, it was Iraq he said everyone was coming home...
Well whether he had a plan or not for those two wars...they still have to be paid for, and its disingenuous at best to blame Obama that piece of the debt.
What was wrong with the the tax cuts? Seriously??? What part of Needed to be paid for, and weren't don't you understand. When you make a budget, and then give back a percentage, without a corresponding cut in the budget, you increase the debt. Same thing with the prescription plan! This piece of the deficit was in place before Obama took office, and he pointed that out. HE then immediately talked about the spending he has done, and the plan for paying that off.... read the speech...
He gives a good speech. He always has. Let's see what actually happens.
ehh, another obama speech. nothing new to see.
bush tax cuts would be cool if we weren't in two wars. increase spending and decrease income, and you have the recipe for debt.
he is going after the banks who haven't paid it back, from what i gather. but initiating a fee that is going to be transferred back to the consumer doesn't seem like the best way to go.
It was a good speech. I especially like his criticism of the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. I also like how he eluded to separating investment banks from commerical banks a la the Depression Era Glass Stegall Act that Congress repealed in 1999 to help banks become larger and more profitable. However, sadly, I don't trust Obama. He's all talk and no action. He's shown himself to be a weak leader who isn't interested in taking bold steps to reign in corporate America. I'll paraphrase Hillary Clinton by saying words mean nothing if you don't have any fight in you. Obama has no fight in him. He's more concerned about being personally liked by his political foes.
I LOVED reading this. Thanks