http://www.prisonradio.org/media/audio/mumia/state-disunion-2014-217-mumia-abu-jamal
I have seen many State of the Union addresses over the years, events of pomp and ceremony, of glad-handling and fake smiles, from President Jimmy Carter to the present President, Barack Obama.
The Constitution doesn’t so much require it, as it barely mentions it; in one lonely line, Article 11; Section 3 states: (The President) “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union…” (There’s more; but not much)
He could send a note, but where’s the fun in that?
And so these events have become annual gatherings, food to journalists, and manna to speechwriters.
It’s been a Hollywood set from which to launch wars, on drugs, on poverty, on Iraq and on Afghanistan.
But it’s not been a place for unity.
Particularly when it comes to President Barack Obama, it’s been a State of Dis-Union, where the House of Representatives has set its face against the man, and all of his attempts to govern.
As a direct consequence of such intransigence, the President has been forced to utilize his powers of executive order, even though he has used it less than any other modern president.
It matters little that this is perhaps the most unpopular Congress since the Civil War; the reorganization of voting districts has made them virtually invulnerable. Why worry about national polls when you’re guaranteed to get re-elected?
Obama pulled off political miracles when he got elected, and then re-elected.
But elections are one thing; governing is another.
You can call it a State of the Union address, but without unity, it’s simply an address.
Words.
The shadow of the Civil War still lies low upon the horizon of a nation called, the United States.
–© ’14 maj