State of the Union
In one of many incidents since arriving in France that have served to point out how uninformed, in general, I am about world news and American politics, I learned that the State of the Union had been given last night from a Facebook status update by a friend from Norway. And so I watched it on YouTube, where it had been posted in English and Farsi by a guy in Iran, and marveled about how cool technology is, and how strange it is that our politics are so widely followed.
I liked the things he said about education.
When Obama kept saying "both" parties, I thought about how bitter the independents and the tinier parties must be that they never get mentioned seriously.
I liked that he called people out on denying the "overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change". I felt kind of awkward when he addressed Congress like a classroom full of children, asking them not to get in each other's way just because they could. I felt even awkwarder when the military contingent in the audience didn't applaud at Obama's intention to get rid of the no-gays-in-the-military rule.
I appreciated that there was no smirking on the part of the President and that he at no point made me want to cry. That's different than it tended to be.
January is already mostly over, so the time has passed for New Year's resolutions, I guess, but I'm adding to my list of goals that I need to be more informed about politics. Where did January go, anyway?
I liked the things he said about education.
When Obama kept saying "both" parties, I thought about how bitter the independents and the tinier parties must be that they never get mentioned seriously.
I liked that he called people out on denying the "overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change". I felt kind of awkward when he addressed Congress like a classroom full of children, asking them not to get in each other's way just because they could. I felt even awkwarder when the military contingent in the audience didn't applaud at Obama's intention to get rid of the no-gays-in-the-military rule.
I appreciated that there was no smirking on the part of the President and that he at no point made me want to cry. That's different than it tended to be.
January is already mostly over, so the time has passed for New Year's resolutions, I guess, but I'm adding to my list of goals that I need to be more informed about politics. Where did January go, anyway?
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