Live-Blogging The SOTU
851 pm:
OK, let's get this show on the road. I'll be commenting on a variety of aspects of the speech but...wait for it...anything having to do with the budget, spending, taxes, deficits, and the debt. I know, that's a shock.
859 pm:
Just read an embargoed copy of the speech. No details per the embargo but I'm definitely looking forward to comparing how it sounds to how its how it reads.
909 pm:
A wonderful moment with Gabby Gifford. No doubt that will be the picture seens everywhere tomorrow.
910 pm:
Hard to argue with the majesty of the House chamber. No wonder the minority response isn't ever as well received.
914 pm:
Let it be noted that "An economy built to last" was said for the first time 4 minutes into the speech. Sounds like the tag line to an auto commercial.
916 pm:
The word wasn't used by "equality" just entered the conversation.
917 pm:
The president sounds angry and not professorial. That will play well with an electorate that sees the economy as an emotional issue.
920 pm:
"An economy built to last" for the second time.
925 pm:
Did anyone else notice that the business tax cuts the president just proposed would be paid for with revenues from other businesses?
935 pm:
This increasingly sounds like a campaign speech directed to Democrats and independents. Twenty-five minutes in and no mention of the budget.
938 pm:
First use of the word "budget."
946 pm:
First reference to paying down the national debt.
953 pm:
Paying down the debt gets mentioned almost in passing as the president speeds to extending the payroll tax cut.
954 pm:
40 minutes in and the president is just turning to the deficit. But it's in the context of having to do away with tax breaks for the wealthy.
956 pm:
First mention of Social Security and Medicare.
957 pm:
It's not hard to conclude at this point that the budget was not a major or even minor focus of the speech. The president is providing little to no indication about anything having to do with reducing the deficit.
958 pm:
Third time -- an America built to last.
1016 pm:
And it's over. The budget debate didn't move forward by an inch with this speech. No hints about what's planned for the deficit. A non-event as far as fiscal policy is concerned. This was a campaign speech with lots of positives and optimism and almost nothing about the costs.
