Written Two Hours Before

Aaron Sorkin writes some memorable State of the Union scenes.  Jon Favreau, of Obama speech writing fame, is eloquent about the process on his podcasts.  Hearing that the verbiage of the State of The Union address was being changed to reflect the Chinese balloon situation, I flashed to AJ giving Lewis oxygen as he rewrote The American President's SOTU.  

What's missing from Sorkin's rosy picture of pre-Trump America is dismissive criticism before the thing is delivered.  I'd prefer to live in his world than ours.

He's lost before he's begun.

Republicans have been screeching and Democrats have taken the bait and responded and Joe Biden hasn't even entered The House, let alone made a pronouncement or two.  They are making hay over Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, of Trumpian Press Secretary fame, who will deliver their rebuttal.  I'll be interested in their plan to balance the budget without touching the pieces of the social safety net that touch their lives (Medicare and Social Security.... they all know someone who's old) or increasing taxes on the wealthy or corporations.... and then how they convince us that scrapping Medicaid is the right thing to do.

This floats around the Twitterverse (such as it is, these days) and the talking heads and the radio hosts and the podcasters and the newspapers and it's getting so that I can't stand to read the political news that used to fascinate me. 

Both sides seem to agree on just one thing - Joe Biden will fail.

I admit that I'm a little worried.  It's a late start for an older man; I'm often in my jammies at 9pm.  But he's been doing the job with a smile on his face for two years, now, and those first two years in office have been extraordinarily productive.  

Nevertheless, sources close to tell scoop hungry reporters things that come close but don't come right out and say that so-and-so is in the running but can't publicly challenge a sitting president.  To all concerned, Democrats and Republicans, the future looks bleak.

Whether the current House will have time to do anything besides read the Constitution and Pledge Allegiance (twice a day) and threaten our American Way of Life (have you listened to Lauren Boebert or Marjorie Taylor Greene or Ron DeSantis or Greg Abbott lately?) remains to be seen.

Perhaps there are a few legislators on the Republican side whose districts are less amenable to racist, homophobic, anti-science nonsense.  Perhaps there are issues around the edges on which agreement can be reached.  

A girl can always dream.

For now, for the next few hours, before he's introduced to the Speaker In Name Only, until the President of the United States opens his mouth, I wish people would just shut the hell up.