Although the political world grinds to a seeming halt when the president addresses Congress every year in January, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything interesting comes out of the ordeal.
And on Tuesday’s coverage of the State of the Union address on the Fox News Channel, senior political analyst Brit Hume said this year’s from President Barack Obama was no different.
“I’ve covered about 35 of these things and I thought they were always a murderous assignment for any president,” Hume said. “For one thing they are too long and for certain political reasons in Washington, they need to be because there are a multitude of bases and constituencies and members of Congress, and so on and must have their, you know places touched.”
Hume did credit the president with his speech-giving ability.
“I think the president made a reasonable case, he spoke with his poise and polish and that little bit of enthusiasm, where he comes, sinks to a whisper and yet pushes his voice that maybe some people find effective,” said Hume.
All in all, Hume assessed, Obama delivered a rather dull, obligatory speech.
“He did a workmanlike job on the speech and I thought it was, you know fine but it suffers the deficiencies that all state of the unions always suffer: They’re a laundry list of programs,” he noted. “They are always too long. And in the end I’m not speaking about this president in particular, but state of the union addresses tend to be boring. I think this speech in the end was a bit boring.”