SOTU--shouldn't that be STFU?

I grabbed this shot of Obie at the exact moment after he had said the words, "and fellow Americans." Heh.

Excellent article by Jonah Goldberg at NRO: Over Confidence & Over Kindness. He calls Obie's speech "lackluster and cliched." I had the same thought, that the speech was flat and was going over like a fart. Goldberg says that because he had a good month or so, now he thinks he can go back to his old "comfortable talking points." JG also thinks the mixed seating worked against him. DH and I, watching this thing, said the same thing: there's a sort of "tipping point" where if everyone around you is doing something, you do that thing too. The Dems weren't all sitting together with their Jack-in-the-Box leader up in front, Nasty Nancy, jumping out of her seat at every turn. So mainly, they all sat. How refreshing it was to see Boehner up there looking--bored? His face is hard to read, but he certainly seemed less than enthused.

Did anyone else notice that "gray-haired Obama" showed up last night? Clinton used to do the same thing. Here he is, below, shown morning and evening of the same day.He evidently needed the young, cool look when he met Hu Jintao; last night he may have been going for gravitas gray. Style over substance, every time.

And P.S. Note to Obama: Matching purple-blue tie and lip color for the SOTU, not so good. Don't they have a good makeup artist for this man? He needed some of that spray tan last night that he was using for the Hu dinner. Pale, thin, and exhausted: this man is not up to the job.

Update. From HotAir: "Where was the laser focus on jobs?" One of the commenters at HA: "Why do we care what this man says?" I care because I would want to know if Obie hit one out of the park with his speech. He did not. And I know that, because I watched the thing for myself, even though watching and listening to this guy is painful.

Update #2. A sad deal, from Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit: "Sputnik Fail: After Defunding NASA, Obama Uses Soviet Space Program to Rally Americans to SOTU."

Update #3. Ed Morrissey and the "Obamateurism of the Day": Obama somehow seems to think that security pat-downs are a joke: (exerpt from his speech) Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. (Applause.) This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying –- without the pat-down. (Laughter and applause.) As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway.

Morrissey continues: If Obama thinks that high-speed rail — or any other kind of rail — won’t need higher security, he hasn’t paid much attention.  While al-Qaeda has limited its major attacks in the US to airlines, they’ve proven themselves adept at massive and coordinated attacks on train systems in other nations.  Madrid saw almost 200 people killed in the 2004 attacks, and another 56 in the London attacks in July 2005.  There have been a few warnings about plots against subways here in the US, too. . . . it sounds as if Obama himself is questioning the need for patdowns.  If he thinks they’re unnecessary, why hasn’t he directed DHS to stop conducting them?  The people who have to endure them don’t consider it a joke, Mr. President.