The State of the Union: In Cloud Form

I originally began this post before the State of the Union. As per usual, life got in the way of living and now I am rewriting it post delivery.  I had wanted to discuss my hopes for what I wanted President Obama to speak about. Now I can complain that he did not.

It is a much easier post to write now. After all I do not have to predict anything and I will not be wrong. It is probably the safer route for a new blogger anyway. But I digress.

I am forever disappointed in the State of the Union and other major political addresses. Most likely it is because I am a policy geek. I revel in the details, the contradictions and the impact. When the President say things like ‘we must lead” or ‘We must move forward,” I do not know what that means. It sounds pretty, but has no concrete meaning.

There is not enough room within one single speech to change minds, but it can set a tone. I like to look at it as a theme.

On way I like to check on the major themes of a speech or article is to run it through a word cloud program. No, it is not scientific, but it is interesting to me. You can find them online and it is free. Word clouds size words based on how many times they are said. So if the word taxes is said twenty times and “budget” is said six times, “taxes” will appear larger than ‘budget’ in the cloud. Here is a link to my favorite.

Before I go further with my thoughts, take a look at word clouds from some recent and famous State of the Union addresses to compare. Take a look:

Here, George Washington delivers the very first State of the Union Address in 1790. He lays a foundation of key aspects of our fledgling democracy.

 

One of my favorite addresses is Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 speaking of the ‘four freedoms,” preparing Americans for World War II.

Fast Forward to Ronald Reagan’s 1988 address, at the end of his first term, leading to the "end of big government."

George H. W. Bush in 1991 talks about his thousand points of light.

Bill Clinton’s 1999 “Bridge to the 21st Century” address was also one of my favorites.

George W. Bush’s 2003 address setting the stage for the Iraq invasion.

I will not comment on these. I just thought they were an interesting retrospective.

Again, there is nothing scientific about the word cloud. It simply tells you which words the President said the most. However, to me, they are very interesting to view. They give you a very good sense of the times and perspective.

Okay fast forward to Obama’s 2009 speech when his largest words were health care, education, people, energy, future and plan. All that “hopey changey” stuff that Sarah Palin seems to hate so much. It served to inspire so many of us to work so hard toward what we thought was a shared agenda.

I, along with many of my progressive friends quickly became disillusioned with our goals and course as we watched the GOP and ‘tea party’ eviscerate the end game. How could we let the public option slip out of our grip? Where was the end to the Iraq War? Why was big business still running the show?

First, let me say that I am still disillusioned -- probably as much as previous generations who have fought for progress and ended up falling short of our ideal goals. However, we must acknowledge that while the last two years were not ideal, we did move forward.

This country moved forward in more ways than can easily be summarized. Economic stimulus, a step toward health reform that has eliminated pre-existing conditions, covered millions of young Americans, allowed all Americans to serve freely in the military regardless of their sexuality, banking reform, and yes, he did reduce troop numbers in Iraq (I know, I know, but it was change).

So without further ado, here is the word cloud for last night’s State of the Union address.