My Fellow Americans, the State of Our Union Is . . . Dreadfully Bored Right Now
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Morning Jolt January 20, 2015
Two years from today, someone besides Barack Obama will take the oath of office to be President of the United States. My Fellow Americans, the State of Our Union Is . . . Dreadfully Bored Right NowLuke Russert was kind enough to have me on his program, Shift, yesterday; you can watch my appearance here. A point I didn't have time to make is that tonight, millions of Americans will tune in at 9 p.m. and ask . . . "Where's Agent Carter?" "What, no NCIS: New Orleans tonight?" (I know, I know, if you're going to make that joke on a news channel affiliated with NBC, you had better remember what's on NBC on Tuesdays at 9.) The State of the Union Address is a huge, huge deal inside the Beltway. It represents one of the biggest "This Town" moments on the calendar. The only event with a bigger disparity in its significance inside the Beltway compared to outside the Beltway is the White House Correspondent's Dinner, a.k.a., "Nerdprom." Outside the Beltway, it's a long speech preempting prime-time television for those still watching network prime-time television. What to expect? For starters, low ratings: On Tuesday President Barack Obama will deliver his seventh State of the Union Address, this one likely reaching the smallest television audience ever -- another marker in an entirely unsurprising continuation of a long-term trend. There are a few truths in the numbers around State of the Union Addresses. First, barring major news events happening at the time, viewership for the speech tends to decline over the course of an administration. And second, the larger trend for the ratings overall is down -- and don't expect that to change. To be honest, if I wasn't professionally obligated, I wouldn't be watching. The fact that Obama has been doing "preview events" discussing his major proposals -- free community college by taxing 529 college savings, hooray! -- makes the actual long-winded speech, punctuated by those few remaining Congressional Democrats clapping like seals at every pause and participle even more anti-climactic.
When you consider the saturation of coverage around the speech even if you don't watch it, how likely are you to miss the major points? Consider all the ways you get news -- not only through print, TV, and radio, but also through your computer, phone, tablet, social media. When you think about all those outlets and opportunities, if you really want the gist of what the president says Tuesday night are you better off watching the speech or reading the barrage of coverage that will follow it? The answer to that question isn't necessarily clear. My fellow Americans, reading this Morning Jolt . . . we'll get through this together, with the State of the Union Drinking Game and snarky remarks on Twitter. Michael Moore: American Griper My friend Kurt Schlichter tears into two of the celebrities complaining about American Sniper : Bloated nobody Michael Moore hated it. He announced, in a tweet dissing Kyle, a man whose boots the tubby wannabe is not fit to lick, that "We were taught snipers were cowards." So many lies in one sentence. First, there's no "We." His chunky rear end never served in uniform, and he is unworthy of associating his miserable self with those of us who did. Second, no one is trained that snipers are "cowardly." Mikey, I commanded Army units that included sniper teams, you quivering sack of feces, and might I suggest that you not inform those courageous Americans to their faces that they don't meet your exacting standards of bravery lest you get introduced to the butt end of their rifles via your flapping piehole. Next, chunky iconoclast Seth Rogen weighed in with his observation that American Sniper reminded him of the fake Nazi propaganda film at the end of Inglorious Bastards. What a scumbag. This came after we conservatives stood with him when the Norks threatened him over The Interview -- even to the extent of watching his piece of garbage on VOD -- while his hero Barack Obama whined about people actually exercising their free speech rights. Of course, Rogen is a Canadian, but that's no excuse – Canada's awesome soldiers have set their own sniper standards in the war on the very people who would disembowel the hefty likes of Seth Rogen but for the warriors who guard him. It's pathetic that after conservatives closed ranks to protect him, Rogen decided to reassure his loser liberal cohort that he was still one of the gang by biting the hand that defended him. We can be sure his liberal pals will be there when Rogen's films start tanking – yeah, they love him for him, not for the stardom he obtained by sheer luck. It's not like the world isn't full of fat funny guys who could have just as easily been him. There are two explanations for the Moore and Rogen responses. One explanation is that these guys are trolling. A movie making $100 million on its opening weekend in January -- with NFL conference championships on, and lousy weather in some parts of the country! -- is about as broad-based a public endorsement as our diffuse culture is capable of generating today. When everybody else loves something, the allegedly "edgy" and "brave" thing to do is to dislike it. Of course, our hipster-dominated pop culture is so chock full of lockstep free-thinkers going against the same grain simultaneously that the only true modern iconoclasts are conservatives. Think about it, when was the last time you mentioned "Michael Moore" to anyone? I just checked, I've mentioned him in the Jolt once in December and once in August. If you're a particular kind of leftist narcissist who relishes the furious reactions of conservatives, denouncing American Sniper is low-hanging fruit. It's also a useful way to channel what must be spectacularly raging jealousy. The other explanation is that my colleague David French is right and we're having a "cultural moment" -- a big director and a big star have finally satiated a long-simmering, broad-based appetite for a story of post-9/11 American life with big, bold, deep, and meaningful lessons. Moore and Franco recoil from those lessons with fury and loathing, and thus feel compelled to push back as ferociously as they can muster, in both cases by comparing Kyle and his men to our foes in World War II. I'll reserve any serious comment on the film until after I have seen it -- I guess I'm just not up to the standards of The New Republic -- but whether or not American Sniper is "pro-war," it appears to be resolutely and proudly pro-soldier. And that is a giant factor in moviegoers' enthusiastic embrace of it. Note that American Sniper isn't afraid to showcase the painful and difficult parts of military life for soldiers and their families, and my suspicion is that audiences love that part, too – because showing the pain makes it honest. Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper and company don't want to tell you only one part of Chris Kyle's story. They want to paint as complete a picture as they can in the running time that they have. If you made the story about the battlefront, without the home front, or vice versa, you would only be telling about half the story. Think about how important it is that the film is enthusiastically endorsed by Taya Kyle, widow of Chris Kyle, and that she's been attending the premiere and publicly praising the film. It shakes off that last nagging doubt that this film is somehow exploiting or inappropriately profiting from the extraordinarily life of Kyle. But it's not just telling the story of the enemy, but also of a key reality about our soldiers that many Americans don't get. Of course war is horrifying. There are real consequences in PTSD and survivor guilt, and for tens of thousands there are real consequences in enduring physical wounds. Your psychological reality can essentially "flip" for a time so that you become a better functioning warrior than you are husband or father (in one telling moment, Kyle lands back in Iraq for yet another deployment, and a fellow SEAL tells him "welcome home"). But here's the thing: The vast majority of soldiers get through that trauma and emerge on the other side, often better men. At the end of the movie, we see a Chris Kyle who is a good husband and father — who is truly "home" — extending his mission of helping his brothers by helping them heal. This is an important story. Yes, there is grief that endures. And, yes, there are often wounds that won't fully heal. But there is also fierce pride in service, new insights on life and our world, new appreciation for the blessings of liberty and the love of family, and many other perspectives and experiences that enrich the lives of veterans and veterans' families. It was just as critical to see Chris Kyle heal as it was to see him suffer. Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer Margaret Talev begins her piece at Bloomberg by asking: Two weeks after the Paris terrorism attacks, in the opening days of a new Congress where Republicans control both chambers and are moving to reshape domestic policy, why has the White House used the lead-up to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to promote his post-speech interviews with luminaries such as Bethany Mota, a 19-year-old YouTube celebrity who became famous for showing strangers her fashion and beauty buys online? Because we're governed by children who embrace the frivolous and ephemeral instead of grappling with the biggest and most challenging issues of our time. ADDENDA: I take strange pride in this:
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