This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A few perceptions about the speech:

• I didn’t watch it so my notions arise from reading media coverage.
• One piece of good news is that it’s over.
• The speech has become more “political theater” than an even-handed summary of the “state of the union.”

To prepare this blog, I could have decided to open one of the four departments I run, the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering.

But, no, I decided just to write about the speech, President Joe Biden’s second of his presidency, now entering its third year.

So, was the speech good or bad?

Well, as usual in political theater, it depends on whom you ask. 

To many of Biden’s fellow Democrats, he did a good job of outlining the status of the country, including good things he and colleagues had done while in office.

To many Republicans, it was more of the same – more government, more government spending, more regulations.

Here are just a few perceptions from commentators.

FROM KARL ROVE IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:  “President Joe Biden considers himself a blue-collar working stiff from middle America.  But another side of Scranton Joe was on display in his State of the Union address Tuesday night:  A high-rolling gambler.

“His speech was one gigantic political bet.  Team Biden knows that Americans feel both that the economy is in bad shape and that things have gotten worse for their families since he took office.  Workers’ wages rose less than prices last year, which probably explains these sour feelings.

“This — along with his malaprops and advanced age — have left only about a quarter of Americans confident in his ability to run the White House.

“It’s remarkable then that Tuesday Biden doubled down.  He’s betting big that the economy is already turning around.  He crowed loudly about its improving state, rewrote history where needed (‘two years ago, the economy was reeling’) and urged Americans to ‘finish the job.’”

Rove concluded, contending that “Biden was elected as a transitional figure and that voters still hope he is.”

FROM AARON BLAKE IN THE WASHINGTON POST:  “The last time Biden gave a major speech was back in September, when he delivered some tough words in a prime time address about Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and said that ‘MAGA Republicans’ posed a threat to democracy.

“Tuesday’s speech was much more aspirational, albeit with some tense moments mixed in.  And, despite what could be an acrimonious 2024 campaign ahead, Biden clearly made the decision to preach extensively about bi-partisanship.

“He pitched his first two years in office as a surprising win for bi-partisanship, saying it proved the doubters wrong about the two sides’ ability to come together on issues like infrastructure and toxic burn pits.

“Biden’s dig at Trump-era deficits wasn’t the only indicator of the upcoming presidential race.  He also geared his speech extensively toward blue-collar voters.”

FROM EUGENE ROBINSON IN THE WASHINGTON POST:  “The call to action during President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday — ‘Let’s finish the job’ — would never be mistaken for soaring poetry.  But perhaps that’s the point.  In his speech, as throughout his first two years in office, Biden made a powerful case for governing in prose.

“The president took advantage of the national television audience the speech always draws to make the case that his worldview has been proved correct:  Even at a time of extreme polarization, bi-partisanship is not only possible but also necessary.  He said there is ‘no reason we can’t work together and find consensus in this Congress.’

“Biden came prepared for catcalls from far-right members of the new House majority.  I wondered at times whether I was watching a State of the Union address or a raucous session of Prime Minister’s Questions in the British House of Commons.  Rather than being rattled or angered by GOP outbursts, Biden seemed to relish them — at times, even to provoke them.”

In conclusion, I found the event to be a jeer-filled affair, no more so than when the flake, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, got just what she wanted as, in a loud voice, she called Biden a liar.

There were photos of her outburst, one she capitalized after the speech by using what she said to raise money from her supporters. 

The best photo:  The one, where in a white coat with a huge collar, Greene was shown with mouth wide open, yelling and screaming.  Standard behavior for her.

Worthy behavior on the occasion of a State of the Union address?  No.  But that’s what we now have in political theater. 

So, I am happy to join Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle who says it may now be time to scrap the “State of the Union” which has outlived its usefulness.