SOTU TOMORROW NIGHT – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  President Obama delivers the State of the Union speech tomorrow night.  Can you sense the excitement?  No, either can I. 

Journalists like to say that the speech is "anticipated" or even "highly anticipated."  Well, of course.  It's anticipated the way a dental bill is anticipated.  You know it's coming, and it's going to happen whether you like it or not, so anticipate it.

The Politico purports to tell us what will be in the speech:

When President Barack Obama steps into the House chamber Tuesday to deliver his second State of the Union address, ambience will trump substance.

In his speech, the president will talk about jobs, the deficit and the future of the nation’s troubled economy, but most of the attention is going to be on the theatrics in the room. It will be a night defined by the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and murder of six bystanders in Tucson less than a month ago and the highly public soul-searching that has played out since then on the need for greater civility in political debate.

Oh come on.  The "soul-searching" lasted just long enough for the hysterical left to make a collective fool of itself.  People will be expecting substance tomorrow night.

Obama will honor Giffords and other victims of the shootings, their families and the heroic first responders. His aides believe he’ll reach a broader audience with an emotional and patriotic appeal — one without the faintest whiff of partisan politics.

Hey, I've got an idea.  How about a speech with some intelligent proposals?  Isn't that radical? 

But the president’s triumphant speech in Tucson, itself a hard act to follow, takes some of the pressure off, easing expectations that he will deliver a soaring speech, which State of the Union addresses rarely are.

Do you get the feeling that this reporter is back in 2008?  Obama worship seems to be making a return to the establishment media.  Now we are told that the president's "triumphant" speech in Tucson is a hard act to follow.  Really?  How many viewers will remember much about that speech?  The Gettysburg Address it was not.

We'll wait and see, but this is the time for Mr. Obama to recognize the results of the November election and propose an agenda that can attract support across the aisle.  If he simply resorts to an emotional, flag-waving appeal, he may find disappointment in the public, rather than renewed respect.  We expect him to be president, not just run for the office, which is his tendency.

January 24, 2011