Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Presidential State of the Union


Tonight as you channel surf through the TV you will quickly discover that the majority of the stations will all be airing the President's State of the Union address. I imagine that for most of you this does not produce much excitement. But I am just the opposite. I love following politics and I always look forward to watching the State of the Union, no matter who the President is. In fact, not only will I watch the actual Presidential address but I will also watch the Republican response followed by all the political pundits giving their analysis on the whole evening.

Now, I am a little disturbed about one thing regarding tonight's political activities. There seems to be a push for Republicans and Democrats to sit together during the speech. If you have ever watched the State of the Union before, you realize that usually all the Democrats sit on one side of the aisle and all the Republicans sit on the other side of the aisle. That may not happen tonight.

Now, as nice as it might seem to be able watch the two parties sitting side by side, it sure will take a lot of the fun out of watching the political pomp and circumstance surrounding tonight. It's these types of traditions that I enjoy the most about watching the State of the Union. I love it when the clerk walks in and loudly announces, "Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States!" I love to listen to all the cheers and applause as the President makes his way down the aisle. I love to see which members of Congress have worked their way toward the aisle in order to get a hand-shake or photo-op with the President. And then, after all that hurrah has finally subsided, I love it when the Speaker of the House then introduces the President again and the whole thing starts over.

But my favorite part of the State of the Union is watching as the different sides of the aisle stand and applaud at certain points in the speech while the other side all remains seated with their arms folded. Now, that's entertaining politics right there. I mean, seriously, can you imagine a baseball game where instead of one team sitting in the first base dugout and the other team sitting in the third base dugout, they all sat together? Can you imagine the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers standing intermixed on the same sidelines during last Sunday's AFC Championship game?

I'm looking forward to tonight and seeing how this political event all plays out!

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