{"id":1536,"date":"2010-01-27T08:50:07","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T16:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1536"},"modified":"2010-01-27T08:50:07","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T16:50:07","slug":"state-of-the-union-are-we-fundamentally-transformed-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1536","title":{"rendered":"State Of The Union: Are We Fundamentally Transformed Yet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Even before President Obama delivers his State of the Union message, the rumblings of partisans can be heard rattling the media timbers. Democrats are putting the finishing touches on their heartfelt endorsements of the raw honesty of the speech and the bold agenda it laid out for America’s future. Republicans are polishing their spontaneous reactions to the flaccid presentation and counting every occurrence of keywords like “terror”<\/em> or “deficit”<\/em> as if the number of times you say them has an impact on their destiny. The post-game on these events is so thoroughly predictable it hardly requires a spoiler alert.<\/p>\n

These ceremonies never really describe the state in which we find our union. It is more like a confessional wherein our shortcomings are enumerated and our commitment to dispatch them is renewed On both of those measures the President has much for which to answer. A little more than a year ago, just days before the election, he told a cheering audience of supporters that…<\/p>\n

“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That was 453 days ago. I’m not sure that he can make a case that the U.S. has been fundamentally transformed yet. It was a stirring promise that was received with overwhelming enthusiasm at the time. But after a year of Town Howlers, Tea Baggers, and pusillanimous pundits praying for failure and openly weeping, that moment of inspiration has been twisted into an ominous threat. Glenn Beck repeatedly plays video of the sound bite with a sneering implication that the transformation Obama had in mind was one from an American fable of perpetual prosperity and freedom, to a hellish realm of impoverishment and tyranny. Never mind that many politicians invoke the vision of transformational change. Even Beck himself in his announcement for his contrived and disingenuous 9\/12 Project<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Beck, 3\/17\/2009:<\/a> We’ve got to fundamentally change. We’ve got to be involved.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dick Cheney, 3\/20\/2008:<\/a> There has been a huge fundamental change and transformation for the better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mitt Romney, 9\/21\/2007:<\/a> [W]e’re going to have to take fundamental change in Washington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Newt Gingrich, 2\/7\/2008:<\/a> [A]nything less than fundamental change will lead ultimately to a weaker and more vulnerable America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See? Everybody wants change. It’s a universal trait of humanity. Except for those who fear change. Which, ironically, is just as universal. Nonetheless, the hope and change that many were led to believe was just a new president away still eludes us. There is a laundry list of aspirations that remain unfulfilled. In fact, much of the current landscape looks eerily like the one we thought we had escaped.<\/p>\n