The State of the Union address remains, for me, one of those “events” that actually occasions the rare gesture of sitting in front of a television for some good old fashioned appointment viewing.  Watching the glorious obsequiousness, gladhanding, strategic applause, and Vice President Biden’s megawatt grin in full HD retains a certain appeal that a YouTube window a few inches wide cannot quite contain.

But as a political event, it is slowly being drained of its life and blood.

President Obama’s speech had many soaring summits, and even an interestingly conversational tone at points that exposed the President’s frustration with an utterly recalcitrant Congress, but when it came to using the ultimate bully pulpit for concrete proposals the President remained vague; principled, ...