State of the Union: Obama's Pep Rally

The crowd cheers and stands in applause, some remain seated.
A few words simply brings one group of people to their feet, smiles glisten the room...this isn't a UK Basketball game, it is the 90 minute State of the Union Address.
The State of the Union, I thought, was meant to relay information to Americans about the current status of our country and the future. Though Obama did that to a certain extent, he made this another TV plug in primetime for his progression of Liberalism.
We should listen to our Supreme Court Justices as they have more experience than our president and were not simply voted in to their position, but appointed and hammered into it.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was "very troubling" and the annual speech has "degenerated to a political pep rally." Responding to a University of Alabama law student's question, Roberts said he wonders whether justices should attend the address. "I'm not sure why we're there," said Roberts, a Republican nominee who joined the court in 2005. Asked about the Senate's method of confirming justices,

Roberts said senators improperly try to make political points by asking questions they know nominees can't answer because of the limitations of judicial ethics rules. "I think the process is broken down," he said. Obama chided the court for its campaign finance decision during the January address, with six of the court's nine justices seated before him in their black robes. Roberts said anyone was free to criticize the court and that some have an obligation to do so because of their positions. "So I have no problems with that," he said. "On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court -- according the requirements of protocol -- has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

Breaking from tradition, Obama criticized the court's decision that allows corporations and unions to freely spend money to run political ads for or against specific candidates.

"With all due deference to the separation of powers, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said. Justice Samuel Alito was the only justice to respond at the time, shaking his head and appearing to mouth the words "not true" as Obama continued.

Justice Antonin Scalia once said he no longer goes to the annual speech because the justices "sit there like bumps on a log" in an otherwise highly partisan atmosphere.



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