Kirsten Powers on SOTU:"It was so hackish, so devoid of any theme or purpose,"

If the State of the Union address Tuesday night is any indication, it appears President Obama's chief speechwriter has been replaced by a cliché-generator circa 1960. His erstwhile oratory was a melee of cringe-inducing lines ripped straight from a sit-in.

The commander in chief waxed about children being important for our future and how we should be a country where "if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead." Which we are for the most part, anyway. Also, isn't there a rule about how many times you can use the same line in a speech? Doesn't basic etiquette and decency prevent us from ever hearing this again: "A tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered accountants can't pay a lower rate than their hard-working secretaries." Yes, we know: Warren Buffett is your friend and his secretary pays a higher tax rate that he does. Is this really the only way to demonstrate the tax code needs to be reformed?

The president has only a few opportunities to speak to the nation, and he blew this one. It was so hackish, so devoid of any theme or purpose, that it makes one wonder whether part of Obama just wants to see how bad he can be before his cultists in the news media can see it. Every speech is exactly what they wish it to be, regardless of reality. His mainstream inaugural speech was treated as a liberal call to arms when it was no such thing. Of course, conservatives thought that. If Obama had announced he just joined the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh would have seen it as proof that he was a socialist. But why liberals would confuse a boilerplate middle-of-the-road inaugural speech with Das Kapital will be forever befuddling.  (Continues)