The media hounds of Congress typically stake out the aisle seats on the morning of the president’s State of the Union speech so they can score valuable TV face time with the commander in chief as he enters the chambers.
Members of the Colorado delegation spotted along the aisles this year with President Obama, absolutely no one.
However, we did see U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner entering the chamber just prior to the speech along with the rest of the Senators — John McCain right on his heels, Michael Bennet lost somewhere in the crowd behind him.
Judging by Gardner’s response to Obama’s address, he wasn’t thrilled with the president’s double-talk on energy.
“Rather than trying to slow down American energy production, we should be doing even more to encourage it. Increasing our supply of energy here at home keeps prices low, creates American jobs, and provides a boost to every sector of our economy,” Gardner said.
Gardner’s guest for the speech was Michelle Howard of Aurora, the first female to ever become a four-star admiral. Howard’s claim to fame also includes participation in the rescue mission of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama, which was the basis of a movie staring Tom Hanks.
Bennet’s guest was Wayne Telford, as we wrote about earlier.
The laundry list of promises from Obama was vast, but luckily for us such pledges rarely become law.
However we were intrigued by his promise to turn community college into a free lunch program.
If it’s anything like his affordable healthcare, it should reduce the problem of oversized classrooms dramatically.
We weren’t really surprised that Obama took credit for increased oil production, which is thriving in spite of his policies towards development on public lands.
Energy production is booming, he said.
And to make sure it remains strong?
“Let’s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline,” said Obama, sending a thrill up the legs of Democrats in the audience.
That and the rest of the speech made about as much sense as this zinger in his opening remarks: “The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.”
