Talk Talk Talk

I’m preparing to watch the State of the Union speech, although I probably won’t remember most of it a month from now. These speeches rarely change the national political narrative and most of the policy proposals set forth tonight will never amount to anything. It’s mostly spectacle and ritual and not nearly as interesting as any given day in the British Parliament. Nobody will interrupt Obama to ask a question and Democrats won’t jeer the House Republican majority. It will all be very stiff and civil and ultimately forgettable. But I’ll still watch; I’m curious to see whether Michelle Bachmann and Keith Ellison will sit next to each while exchanging awkward glances throughout the whole speech.