It's quite a glitzy affair nonetheless. Mr President comes into the hall on Capitol Hill and all the senators and representatives stand up and clap for a long time while he makes his way down to the podium, shaking hands and even kissing his fellow politicians. It's all a little different from Prime Minister's question time. People don't even shout things out while he's speaking! And they call this a democracy.
Instead, as Obama spoke, there were plenty of standing ovations, even though half of the people in the room allegedly hate him. He did talk a lot about how great the United States is, but then that is his job. The American Dream is apparently very much alive in the mind of the 44th President, and there were plenty of echoes of JFK sprinkled in the talk of innovation, transparency, reform, etc. etc. There was some unfortunate stuff about cutting subsidies to oil companies, but I'm sure that will be ironed out once the lobbyists get to work.
But, you know, this guy is a damn fine speaker, and having tuned in with my usual knowing cynicism I couldn't help but be impressed. I found myself desperately hoping that he could make some of this crazy stuff work - like sensible spending, competence and co-operation from both political parties - especially the cool bits about super-fast wi-fi for everyone.
Let's see what any of it looks like after it's been squeezed out the other end of the legislative mincer, but if I can live in America while things similar to the New Deal and the Space Race take place to get them out of the mess they're currently in, it could get exciting around here.
I would have listened until the end, but the 4th England/Australia One Day International started before it finished...
