State of Disunion

As President Obama presented his idealistic speech last night, I was wondering how the Republicans would respond. Aside from my observations of Republicans refusing to applaud, which they have the right to, I decided I would carefully analyze the Republican response. It is always interesting to compare and contrast the interests of the two parties.



If you chose to take advantage of the embedded video above, you probably noticed some peculiarities in the presentation. I understand that making a minority response is one of the toughest things to do in politics, but some things felt awkward.

First, Gov. McDonnell (R-VA) who gave the response, is no orator. His emotional appeal falls well short of what President Obama is able to achieve. Now I didn't expect Brutus to revive himself in the form of Gov. McDonnell, but the contrast in oratorical abilities between Obama and McDonnell is vast.

Did anyone else notice the racial make-up of the two attendees right behind the Governor? A black woman to the left, and an Asian man to the right, each appearing directly behind McDonnell and their faces were in full view for the majority of the speech. Now I'm not a racist nor do I profile others, but those individuals were unequivocally placed there to enhance the GOP's image. Now I did some research, and Wikipedia reports that Virginia is 72.4% white, which is quite diverse when compared to many regions of the country. While I do believe in moderate political correctness, this is excessive. The GOP is trying to expand its reach to new groups, but merely seeing someone of your race will not influence you enough to change your values. However, the attempt was futile in that it can be seen clearly that all but a few of the attendees were white when the camera panned out.

After I noted the unusual racial makeup behind the Governor, I realized the applause was lackluster. It almost seems that the audience was paid to clap. They insisted on clapping after every point, as if they were having a contest with the audience in Washington. I don't know about the attendees in Richmond last night, but I clap when a point valid, not because I am trying to outdo my opponent in a competition.

Lastly, the size of the Virginia House of Delegates is tiny compared to the one on Capitol Hill. Not that I am suggesting it should be rebuilt, but it just can't compare. I love the Greco-Roman architecture all throughout Virginia, but maybe the GOP could have requested that the cameras don't pan all the way out.

Regardless of the realistic limitations, the Republicans took many interesting risks. But the overall theme of this attempt can be summarized in one word: pathetic.