82Marine89
01-28-2010, 02:37 PM
The pattern is familiar. After every critical presidential speech, the nation's pundits and editorial boards weigh in. They grade the speech and the speaker and, before too long, the conventional wisdom is set. So what is the consensus grade for President Obama’s high-stakes State of the Union address last night?
Perhaps not surprisingly, the opinions that rapidly flooded the punditsphere last night vary widely. What is more remarkable is where the harshest criticism came from. The New York Times describes Obama's addresss as a "defiant" and "controversial" speech to a "skeptical" audience, one whose core message was "I don't quit." But while the speech was praised by a broad swath of pundits from center-left to center-right, staunch conservatives and aggressive liberals found plenty to dislike.
The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington labeled it a "paint-by-poll-numbers" speech that "had the feel of being focus-grouped within an inch of its life":
"And while most State of the Union speeches have a bit of a kitchen-sink feel to them, this one seemed particularly so with its blink-and-you-missed-it mentions of "earmark reform" and cracking "down on violations of equal pay laws -- so that women get equal pay for an equal day's work." It felt less like an overriding vision for the country, and more like an attempt to deliver at least one applause line for every constituency in the country."
Read more about B.O. here... (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl1087)
Perhaps not surprisingly, the opinions that rapidly flooded the punditsphere last night vary widely. What is more remarkable is where the harshest criticism came from. The New York Times describes Obama's addresss as a "defiant" and "controversial" speech to a "skeptical" audience, one whose core message was "I don't quit." But while the speech was praised by a broad swath of pundits from center-left to center-right, staunch conservatives and aggressive liberals found plenty to dislike.
The Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington labeled it a "paint-by-poll-numbers" speech that "had the feel of being focus-grouped within an inch of its life":
"And while most State of the Union speeches have a bit of a kitchen-sink feel to them, this one seemed particularly so with its blink-and-you-missed-it mentions of "earmark reform" and cracking "down on violations of equal pay laws -- so that women get equal pay for an equal day's work." It felt less like an overriding vision for the country, and more like an attempt to deliver at least one applause line for every constituency in the country."
Read more about B.O. here... (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl1087)