2011 State of the Union address to Congress, plus the Republican Response and the Tea Party response: Jan. 25, 2011

It's a silly tradition, which has no consitutional basis -- it's just the way it's been done. So Obama asked to change it on the grounds that it would feel less partisan and more united.

It seems to have worked -- the audience did not have the two obvious partisan viewpoints, since the applauders and the grimacers were all mixed together.

The members of the Supreme Court still sat in the front row, maintaining their poker faces as their tradition dictates. That tradition (also not in the Constitution) is to maintain their impartiality. But since we all know which side they're each on, it too is a silly tradition. Maybe next year Obama will ask the Justices to applaud when they like something and to grimace when they don't.

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, Jan. 27, 2011

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Budget & Economy     Mitt Romney: America needs less spending and more jobs.     Barack Obama: Freeze annual domestic spending for next five years.     Paul Ryan: FactCheck:Stimulus spending created between 1.4M & 3.6M jobs.     Steve King: Obama's "investments" really just means "more spending".     Paul Ryan: Stimulus spending spree created debt but few jobs.

Corporations     Barack Obama: OpEd: Poetic tales of small business ignore big monopolies.     Barack Obama: Now business can write off the full cost of new investments.     Barack Obama: Lower corporate tax rate; pay for it by closing loopholes.

Education     Barack Obama: OpEd: Study visas for foreigners means brain drain abroad.     Barack Obama: Race to the Top: reward innovation in public schools.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Race to the Top has only rewarded 12 states.

Energy & Oil     Barack Obama: OpEd: Sunlight & water into fuel? Share info with the world.     Barack Obama: Subsidize clean energy by canceling oil subsidies.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: clean coal isn't ready; nuke waste is unresolved.

Foreign Policy     Michele Bachmann: American exceptionalism: indispensable nation of the world.

Free Trade     Barack Obama: Double our exports by 2014; starting with South Korea.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: Yes, exports up; but not enough to double by 2014.

Government Reform     Paul Ryan: FactCheck: all-time high government was 1943, not 2009.     Paul Ryan: Individual liberty requires limited government.     Sarah Palin: Cut funding for "fluffery" like the NPR and NEA.

Health Care     Barack Obama: Repealing healthcare reform would cost $250B.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: healthcare reform saves $2B to $10B, not $250B.     Michele Bachmann: ObamaCare replaces finest system with government coverage.     Michele Bachmann: FactCheck: pre-ObamaCare system was 49th, not best in world.     Paul Ryan: FactCheck: costs go up just a bit; jobs go down just a bit.     Paul Ryan: FactCheck: No evidence that healthcare reform explodes debt.     Paul Ryan: Open-ended healthcare entitlement moves US toward bankruptcy.

Homeland Security     Barack Obama: OpEd: Selectively assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists.     Barack Obama: New START treaty: more secure & fewer nuclear weapons.

Immigration     Barack Obama: Stop expelling talented undocumented workers.

Jobs     Michele Bachmann: $700B bailout & 9000 earmarks didn't keep unemployment at 8%.     Michele Bachmann: FactCheck: bailout cost $25B, not $700B; and no IRS police.

Technology     Barack Obama: Space-race-level investment in R&D; biotech; & green tech.     Barack Obama: High-speed rail for 80% of US; high-speed web for 98% of US.     Barack Obama: FactCheck: High-speed rail for 80% possible; but not soon.     Sarah Palin: USSR won 1960s space race, but its debt led to USSR collapse.

War & Peace     Barack Obama: We've taken the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan, until July.     Barack Obama: Iraq: 100,000 troops have left; let's finish the job.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Barack Obama Michele Bachmann Mitt Romney Paul Ryan Sarah Palin Steve King