Sit Down, Stand Up

The State of the Union speech is upon us. Time for the pomp and pageantry of a President facing an audience, half of which is friendly, the other half which is cantankerous and hostile.

At least with Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden being members of the President's own party we won't have that scene like we've seen in the past where one person is standing and the other is sitting there like a wet blanket.

I generally like the pageantry of the whole thing. The calling out "The President of the United States," all the thunderous applause, the shaking hands of the men, the kissing of the women. But it does seem to go on for a very long time.

I'm watching some of the pre-speech stuff, with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. They're putting it in a historical context.

I would feel a lot more optimistic about the speech if I felt like someone was on our side and not working against us.