I watch the state of union with the same anticipation as I have for a good televised sporting event. I like to watch the pregame prognostications and predictions. The parade of commentators who never played the game and those who don't play anymore. The snacks are placed within easy reach. (Actually the snacks, tv, and comfortable chair were provided by Terri and Tommy, much appreciated). And I don't like a lot of chit chat or socializing while the clock is running. Then I enjoy the post game analysis and interviews. Last night was good.
The president covered a lot of ground, the kind of stuff I have posted about in the past and will again in the very near future.
But first an observation that had little to do with all of the policy and politics.
The President can be funny. Whether or not you questioned his timing on delivering on his legislative promises, it is hard to argue with his timing when he is delivering a punch line. Who can forget his routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner last year. Several powerful people would like to.
"John Boehner is, after all, a person of colour. It's just a color that does not occur naturally in nature." I liked that one. It was good stuff.
Last night the President got a few subdued laughs when he observed that he had heard that there were a few people in the room who had some concerns about health care reform. He is gifted in making such disarming comments.
But the State of the Union speech is serious. To have them rolling on both sides of the aisle has never been an appropriate goal and generally not achievable by many elected to that high office.
But the salmon joke was a winner. In making the point that the federal government needed some reorganization, the president observed that when salmon are in fresh water they are under the authority of the Interior Department, when they are in saltwater they are under the authority of the Commerce Department, and it gets even more complicated when they are smoked.
It was funny. Folks laughed. And for a moment everyone felt better.
I had already laughed during one of the state of the union game day shows earlier in the evening on MSNBC. Chris Matthews of Hardball was insensed over a speech given by Tea Party Repulican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Rep. Bachmann said, among other things, that the writers of the U. S. Constitution, the founding fathers, including John Quincy Adams, worked tirelessly to abolish slavery, seeming to deny that slavery existed after the founding of the nation eighty years before the War of Northern Aggression (Civil War to some). While sad, and it truly is sad, that a U. S. Congresswoman could be so woefully ignorant about basic American History, it was so absurd that I couldn't help but chuckle a little. Matthews heard about the speech shortly before the state of the union of address. A political history buff, he was completely flummoxed, and could not stop talking about Bachmann's historical gaffes, even as the state of the union address was about to commence, and wedged a full segment featuring the speech into the already crowded pre-game line-up. He constantly called her a "balloon head." Bachmann made me sadly chuckle. Mathews made me guffaw.
Laughing is a good thing. Side-splitting, pee in the pants, soda through the nose guffawing is even better. I have read that a couple of belly laughs a day are highly beneficial in improving overall health by reducing stress, increasing blood flow, and releasing hormones that do something good. You know it's true.
I laughed at lunch today. It was the laughter at the kind of irreverent and inappropriate discussion that co-workers often share to preserve their sanity. We laughed with each other and at each other and even more at other people, which I know sounds bad, but it made us feel so good. It was so loud that a stranger from the next table joined in. He had some good stuff. The names and subject matter involved shall remain confidential to avoid legal repercussions.
We face serious problems as a country. We face serious problems as communities, families and individuals. But take heart. Like Jesus said in Luke, chapter 6, " Blessed are you who weep now, for you soon will laugh."
We need to laugh. It doesn't mean we aren't serious or thoughtful.
It means we are human. It has always been part of our makeup. Wise King Solomon around the 10th century B.C, and later Pete Seeger in 1962 and the Byrds in 1965 told us that there is a time to laugh.
It's like the man who sat up all night waiting for the sun to rise. Finally it dawned on him . . .
It's time to laugh now . .. .
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