The State of the Union address

Even with the best speaker I ever heard as president (Ronald Reagan during his first term), I didn't watch that much. Reagon was an orator because he understood delivery and pacing from his acting career, but he had been governor of California and had legit political chops too. I only watched a few minutes before deciding to do something else.

Like Paul, I read the synopses of several sources and see what slants they put on it. With a little bit of luck, they mostly balance out.
 
So this time I actually watched it. The high-level summary? Good, strong economy, lots of people working who weren't even in the job force under Obama's leadership. Improved trade agreements. Some agreements with Central American countries to keep refugees on their side of the border. Some actions to silence (permanently) high-ranking terrorists. The stats he provided seem to indicate that all ethnicities are benefiting from the low unemployment rate. A lot of prison reform is under way. He wants to get America working on road, bridge, and tunnel infrastructure. He wants to help education. He has set up funding for federal "opportunity zones" in disadvantaged neighborhoods to get people back to work to help their communities through economic growth.

As expected, the Republicans applauded loud and often. The Democrats stayed mostly silent, sometimes shaking their heads. It was not clear to me whether it was in disbelief or dismay. They are going to have a tough road to follow to defeat a president who has cause real improvement in wages, jobs, trade, and national security. Prosperity is popular.
 
Thanks Doc, now I don't have to find the Cliff Notes. :p
 
I am with you pbaldy. I wait until the reporters (unfortunately most of them lean toward the democratic side, so we get a lopsided analysis) give their summary. Unfortunately (at least locally), it appears more people have lost their jobs as the brick and mortar stores close ( Sears, Payless Shoes, The Dress Barn, K-Mart, etc.). Yes some businesses have come in and replaced those businesses. But we have had a lot of empty stores for a long time (a CVS store closed over four years ago and is still empty).
 
While it certainly feeds the statistics, loss of the brick-and-mortar stores comes about because they couldn't compete with their own online services and the online services of places that had no bricks or mortar to speak of. And that trend has been going on for years now. Not saying Trump or Obama had anything to do with that. Neither of them could have stemmed that tide.
 

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