2010 State of the Union Address

In the early 1980s, president was added to Ronald Reagan’s title just a year before one of the worst economic climates our country has ever seen. This time last year, David Leonhardt with the New York Times wrote a story comparing our economic breakdown to that of 1982. He notes that more than half of America is too young to remember 1982. I wasn't even born.

"We have an economic program in place,” someone wrote and Reagan read. “Completely different from the artificial quick fixes of the past." That was during his first State of the Union address. Funny, he thought artificial quick fixes were of the past (think: cash4clunkers, then think: I need a cocktail).

For those who can remember 1982, the phrase "economic recovery" is probably annoying. Reagan said it five times in 1982 – Obama dropped it 13 times in his Inaugural Speech last year.

When you think Richard Nixon, you probably think Watergate or impeachment. My friend, and London School of Economics graduate Justin Roth, tells me that way back in 1968 Nixon was elected on the promise of solving the Vietnam War, but after the first year things were not any better (If I wasn't alive in 1982, what am I supposed to know about the 1960s?).

Obama can certainly relate. Folks across the country with George W. Bush’s face on bulls eyes voted for “change.” Barack was supposed to get us out of Iraq by January 21, 2009. Now it's January 2010 and guess where our troops are? Hint: it's not St. Barths.

"I do not intend to through a detailed listing of what I have proposed or will propose," President Nixon said regarding the war in his 1970 State of the Union Address. He did, however, discuss some things important to those concerned about Vietnam, like clean air and living the American dream.

In 1945, President Harry Truman proposed a program to improve health care in the United States. Before Congress in 1946 Truman explained his propsal, “One of the best possible contributions toward building a stronger, healthier nation would be a permanent school-lunch program on a scale adequate to assure every school child a good lunch at noon.” Maybe that’s where Jamie Oliver got his idea for how to save Huntington.

Last year during his Inaugural Speech, Obama touched on each of these themes. He pushed for better health coverage by hitting listeners where it hurts – their wallets. “The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year,” he said, “yet we keep delaying reform.”

He also made a promise that so far, has not come to fruition. “I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war,” he alleged.

“The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere,” he said. A year later and the impact of the recession is even more encumbering.

These speeches get longer from year to year. Nixon rattled off about 45-hundred words and Obama topped out at nearly 6,000.