Catch up with the State of the Union

Posted Jan 28, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Jan 28, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Did President Obama talk past your bedtime last night? Catch the speech at MSNBC.com.

In preparation for our Obama visit and the attending news blitz here at TBO, I kept my eyes open for the whole thing. I think Obama brought an interesting dynamic to the speech by engaging with the Republicans on the right side of the gallery, making eye contact and at one point prodding them to stand up and cheer for a proposed tax cut. It seemed like a different relationship with the audience than we typically see in State of the Union speeches. But considering Rep. Joe Wilson’s notorious outburst happened the last time Obama addressed Congress, I guess it’s time for a game change.

For a speech that ended strong, though, it started off trite and sentimental. The opening vignette about the president reading letters from sad children with unemployed parents - the name-dropping of downtrodden Midwestern towns - it all sounded like Hollywood’s idea of a State of the Union. Only after about half an hour, when Obama launched into green energy, did things begin to get interesting.