Union Rules

President Obama gave his 2011 State of the Union address tonight, and while I thought the speech was well-delivered and also measured in terms of what the United States needs to do to regain its edge, it wasn't exactly the rousing call to action I thought it might be. He was very specific in stressing the need for support for economic opportunity, education, and rebuilding infrastructure, and he declared the fact that Americans are falling behind as a wake-up call comparable to Sputnik. It didn't energize me to action, though. It only made me satisfied that he knows what needs to be done. Still, the spirit of cooperation seemed pretty genuine, if only because the attack on Gabrielle Giffords continues to reverberate among members of Congress.

Obama made it clear that he wants to push ahead to create jobs and get spending under control, and he threw in a few zingers - suggesting an end to tax breaks for oil companies, for example. The only problem, of course, is that he faces a Republican House that doesn't want to meet him halfway on anything. Representative Paul Ryan's official response for the Republicans - specifically on health care reform - was more incendiary than conciliatory. He hinted that vital social programs ought to be destroyed. He didn't suggest anything he might support Obama on. And, of course, he wrapped himself in the Constitution and the aura of the Founding Fathers.

At least Ryan, a congressman from Wisconsin and chairman of the House Budget Committee, seems to know a thing or two about history - unlike Michele Bachmann, the undistinguished not-so-gentle woman from Minnesota, who is giving a Tea Party response. Bachmann recently praised the Founding Fathers, particularly John Quincy Adams, for ending the scourge of slavery.

The Founding Fathers, of course, not only did not end slavery, they counted slaves in the Constitution as three-fifths of a person - though they did end the foreign slave trade with the ratification of that document (it was abolished in 1808). And while she was right to praise Adams for working tirelessly to end slavery - I assume she saw Amistad - she kind of confused John Quincy Adams with his Founder father, John Adams.

Bachmann's easy victory over Tarryl Clark in her House district in the November election suggests that not only is she stupid, but so are her constituents.