Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Liars?
Reed Hundt remembers how things used to be back when we had a real president.
Shouldn't the change he describes be analyzed... discussed... even noted by... the press?
TPMCafe || SOTU and reasoning : It was a long time ago, I suppose, but I recall that during the first term of the Clinton Administration... the process of preparing the State of the Union address took the better part of two months. Everyone from every wing of government launched ideas.... If your notion was mentioned, you knew that there would be follow-up, that you were empowered to press on with your policy.... The speech was intended specifically to introduce proposals in Congress... the hope was that the proposals would become law.... The President aspired to have the whole nation learn the direction but also the details of policies.
The media were not allies. They actually limited the time available for the speech and usually offered not repetition but criticism and cynical comments about the President's motives. Nevertheless, the Administration considered the speech to be an opportunity to address the country outside the distortions of the media.
Now, it seems, the distortions are embedded in the speech, and the media echo them. The process of generating policy ideas, it seems, does not even exist.... Any connection to legislation is almost accidental.... Most of what is said is mean to be ignored by government leaders. It's simply breathtaking that the Energy Department secretary rescinded much of the core of the President's most recent SOTU speech a day later...
