Comments on: My reaction to the State of the Union Address http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2006/02/01/my-reaction-to-the-state-of-the-union-address Contagious Thoughts, Mutating as Needed Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:07:23 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Darrell Grizzle http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2006/02/01/my-reaction-to-the-state-of-the-union-address/comment-page-1#comment-3141 Darrell Grizzle Thu, 02 Feb 2006 01:49:01 +0000 http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2006/02/01/my-reaction-to-the-state-of-the-union-address/#comment-3141 I didn't watch it either. Thanks, Heidi, for your report on a speech I couldn't bring myself to watch. Amnesty International USA issued a response to the speech, which I've posted in the Feb. 1st entry of my blog ("More on Torture in the American Empire"). I didn’t watch it either. Thanks, Heidi, for your report on a speech I couldn’t bring myself to watch.

Amnesty International USA issued a response to the speech, which I’ve posted in the Feb. 1st entry of my blog (”More on Torture in the American Empire”).

]]> By: Nacho http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2006/02/01/my-reaction-to-the-state-of-the-union-address/comment-page-1#comment-3124 Nacho Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:06:25 +0000 http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2006/02/01/my-reaction-to-the-state-of-the-union-address/#comment-3124 Oh, I avoided the SOTU, mostly because I was spending time with my son, and nothing more important. But in reading over past SOTU's and other statements by Mr. Bush, especially those regarding war in Iraq and against terror, and reading the transcript of yesterday's SOTU - I find the same theme and the same deep belief. It is one based on American exceptionalism and the American monomyth: the U.S. is God's agent in history and our task is to act and further that agenda. Reagan had articulated that early on, and most Presidents tend to buy into that exceptionalism - some, like Mr. Bush claim that we have been asked once again to respond to need, others believe it is more a matter of who we are that such a responsibility falls upon us. In my estimation this belief is so ingrained in American political psyche that it should be considered part of the national symbolic (as per L. Berlant). And it used to be called Manifest Destiny. Yesterday's SOTU did not say anything new. Bush and his cabal cannot embark on visionary projects that cost anything, they already have enough with the wars they are waging, and planning (Iran), the domestic angles are not new and by virtue of that cause little concern, and what's more , little ripple effect in terms of the news cycle... unfortunately Kaine's response was as tepid -- but no surprise there either, the Democratic Party does not want to agitate the water, they wait for it to be agitated before they make bold claims. In short, the SOTU was a fine statement to dull any sharp edges out there for the admin - it reveals a lack of substance, a lack of desire about, and perhaps skill at, governance, and sought quietly, implicitly, to reaffirm the myth of a unitary presidency -- after all, we just have to trust the Prez. Thanks for the post Virus! : ) Oh, I avoided the SOTU, mostly because I was spending time with my son, and nothing more important. But in reading over past SOTU’s and other statements by Mr. Bush, especially those regarding war in Iraq and against terror, and reading the transcript of yesterday’s SOTU – I find the same theme and the same deep belief. It is one based on American exceptionalism and the American monomyth: the U.S. is God’s agent in history and our task is to act and further that agenda. Reagan had articulated that early on, and most Presidents tend to buy into that exceptionalism – some, like Mr. Bush claim that we have been asked once again to respond to need, others believe it is more a matter of who we are that such a responsibility falls upon us. In my estimation this belief is so ingrained in American political psyche that it should be considered part of the national symbolic (as per L. Berlant). And it used to be called Manifest Destiny.

Yesterday’s SOTU did not say anything new. Bush and his cabal cannot embark on visionary projects that cost anything, they already have enough with the wars they are waging, and planning (Iran), the domestic angles are not new and by virtue of that cause little concern, and what’s more , little ripple effect in terms of the news cycle… unfortunately Kaine’s response was as tepid — but no surprise there either, the Democratic Party does not want to agitate the water, they wait for it to be agitated before they make bold claims. In short, the SOTU was a fine statement to dull any sharp edges out there for the admin – it reveals a lack of substance, a lack of desire about, and perhaps skill at, governance, and sought quietly, implicitly, to reaffirm the myth of a unitary presidency — after all, we just have to trust the Prez.

Thanks for the post Virus! : )

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