Comparison of SOTUAs

There were many reactions toward President Obama’s 2010 State of the Union Address, some chanting “Obama, Obama!” while others grumbling “Liar-Liar Pants On Fire” and many others with mixed reactions merely commented on the skill of oration and certain comments.

Here we will be comparing the last Presidency with the current Presidency in terms of wordle visuals of the State of the Union Addresses.

President Bush in his last speech in the year of 2008 is shown below:

As we can see from simply the numerical count and emphasis of/on certain words, President Bush addressed topics of war, security of country, and a necessary “must” do against terrorists, in Iraq, and for America.

In short, President Bush was a “hawk” stating on the topics of war, without much mention of the economy.

So, did President Obama address the correct subjects in the new decade, and does it look brighter and better for America judging from his recent State of the Union Address?

We’ll see below:

From a glance at this ‘summary’ of the 2010 State of the Union Address, we can see that President Obama has mentioned the American people numerous times along with emphasizing on the economy including tax, businesses, jobs, and so forth. Yet one sees no mention of the word, ‘war’, totally opposite from President Bush’s speech.

The speech is also giving others doubt of the President’s truthfulness and willingness to tackle problems regardless if the Republican Party/Bush Administration was at fault for the economic situation or not, along with the uncertain fact of Obama saving 2 million jobs as he orates in his speech.

Although SOTUAs are normally addressed to the U.S Congress for further support of the President or President’s party, the public also takes the speech as an audience which may or may not improve public perspective of the Presidency. The future is as indiscernable as ever, although the government may focus even more on the economy than the previous year, one does not know whether or not the economy will be ‘better’ and its people more ‘optimistic.’

- Authored By: Bera Te.

1/28/10