Do Rising Tides Float All Boats? A #SOTU Review.

So I reached 15,000 tweets. Time for some political talk.

Last night, President Obama addressed the nation regarding the State of The Union. I've only started paying attention to these when I reached voting age, even though my pops made me watch them religiously when I was a child. He was a tyrant, usually something awesome would be on at the same time, and I'd be missing it, then I'd be left out of the conversations the next day at school.

Sadface.

I never watch the State of The Union when everyone else does. I'm visual, I need to see the words, so I wait on the transcript to come out and then read it while I listen. Yes, I'm weird, but we are supposed to appreciate all differences in Obama's America, my friends.

But, before I begin, shoutout to Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Homegirl got shot in the head by a domestic terrorist in 2011, and is well on the way to recovering. She's recently decided to step down from her position as a Congressional representative in order to focus on her recovery. Godspeed to her.

President Obama looks like he wanted to bring some heat in this address, and looking at the ire he's rankled among his opposition, he brought it.

"I intend to fight obstruction with action," the President said, "and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place."

Swag. President Obama laid down a solid address, built upon a foundation of patriotism and keeping the momentum that was ramping up at the end of 2011. What really drew the most vitriol from his dissenters (mostly republican) is the mere mention of the dreaded Buffett Rule, a tax plan that would raise the minimum tax rate on earned income for the top 1% of earners in America. He drew on tried and true populist and patriotic rhetoric to call for a return to core American values, with an emphasis on American workers, manufacturing, keeping American industry in America, and homegrown, clean energy.

Call 'em Out 2012!!!

Engrossed in editing a short story this week, so this'll be a short post. I haven't reached 15,000 tweets yet, but after some of the stupidity that we blah voters have been subjected to over the past couple of weeks, I wanted to point out some instances where blah people really took the fight back to candidates who seem hell bent on disrespect.

Exhibit A: African American Woman Calls Santorum on His Bullsh*t


From ThinkProgress:

WOMAN: Mr. Santorum, why do you have a problem against black people? We are the only ones who need aid? The statistics show that it’s not the popularity [sic] that’s the most needy.
SANTORUM: I didn’t say that. I understand that.
WOMAN: OK, then why’d you say that?
SANTORUM: OK, we gotta go. I didn’t say that.

Uh huh.

Exhibit B: African American Man Calls Out Newt Gingrich on His Bullsh*t

From NewsOne:

Yvan Lamothe, an African-American man, addressed Newt Gingrich‘s comments on African Americans, the NAACP and food stamps at a recent town hall meeting in New Hampshire

"My point is, about a week ago -- some time ago -- you mentioned that black people should be able to earn a paycheck, not be on welfare, implying that black people in general are on welfare, And I really took exception to that because it demeans my accomplishments, my hard work, because I have worked all my life. I have never been on welfare. You know about history. You know that back in the 1930s, Hitler started talking in Germany about a Jewish problem. My question to you is, do you think that blacks represent an American problem, and if you don't think that, will you stop using blacks in general as a stepping stone or a punching bag?"

Newt's response to this man's outrage at his obviously racist and classist statements:

I didn’t say that. I just want to say that frankly this makes me very irritated. The Democratic National Committee took totally out of context half of the sentence, OK? I mean clearly somebody who’s served with Colin Powell, who has served with Condoleezza Rice, I have a fairly good sense of the fact that African Americans have many contributions to America.

 AKA, the "One of my best friends is black/I know black people" derailment tactic. A classic one, at that.

Exhibit C: Michael Steele (Allegedly) Told GOP Candidates to STFU!

No news story on that yet, but one can always count on Elon James White to deliver the goods:

 Is sh*t getting real, or is this just a momentary spike in anger? It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the polls, even though we know that none of US are gonna vote for these fools anyway. Maybe someone should make a Sh*t Politicians Say spoof...meanwhile I'll just watch my favorite one of those spoof videos and hope that these guys just disappear or something.

I could talk about what's really on my mind...

Which is this guy:

 

and one of his (And, to be fair, President Obama's) leading platforms to gaining voters.

But it's Friday and nobody wants to think that hard (And I have a research project due this afternoon as well). So instead, I'll leave you with a political morsel of another sort:



It's Friday! Drink and be merry, N*ggas! (because if some people get their way, we won't be able to identify as anything but brown anymore.)

Weekend, Hooooooo!