A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
President Barack Obama mentioned war 13 times in his State of the Union Address. That’s down from 16 mentions in last year’s SOTU.
He mentioned Social Security once, and only as a historical reference. No surprise there. The President just doesn't like older people. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s still looking for a grand bargain that would cut Social Security benefits to pay for programs for children.
He omitted any mention of food, despite more than 46.5 million Americans being on food stamps. He used the word hunger only once, and then only in a global context. Perhaps he thought suggesting that some Americans still need a decent meal would be a terrible affront to the well fed defenders of Wall Street sitting in front of him.
His reading ease scores were not significantly different from last year’s. His Flesch-Kincaid grade level was up a grade from his first SOTU, and his Flesch-Kincaid reading ease score was down a few points.
By comparison, Sen. Joni Ernst’s 1,267-word response clocked-in with a grade level of 8.6 and a reading ease score of 64.4. It should not go unremarked that she actually described herself as “…a newly elected senator from the great State of Iowa.” And her concluding paragraph may have set a new standard for bombastic piety and patriotism.
