President Obama will announce his first State of the Union speech Wednesday night. He is reportedly going to announce his new middle class initiatives and a limited spending freeze (instead of a hatchet as Senator John McCain wanted, he's using a scalpel).
I just listened to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC describing the Obama/Biden administrations successes over the past year. She used a lot of charts and graphs, showing the growth of our economy, the way loss of jobs have declined, etc... She did this of course as a lead in to her story of Obama's "giving in to the Republicans" with his spending freeze idea. I hope to have that segment of her show on my site tomorrow.
In my view, she may have given President Obama a means to get the facts out there to the American people -- without the need for the media being willing to report all the facts about his administrations actions this past year compared to the last 8 years.
Mr. President, it's time to play Ross Perot. Remember when Mr. Perot introduced the charts during speeches and talk shows to explain his point of views on issues? Well, instead of taking time to introduce people that most Americans don't know, make history and introduce the chart/graph segment of the State of the Union speech.
Members of Congress use charts and graphs all the time so they can't very well complain.
Like any presenter or speaker, you should provide charts and graphs showing where our nation stands today economically and how much better that is compared to a year or two ago. Make them simple enough, just like Rachel Maddow's show did, for anybody to understand. While the graphs and charts are being shown, explain them in detail.
Americans will finally get to see actual facts instead of hearing spin words.
Yes, of course the Republican Party will try and show their own charts later; but by then it will have been too late. Americans watch the person in power.
You will not only be making history showing charts and graphs during a State of the Union speech (which in itself will force the media to 'repeat' for several days), you will finally be showing Americans what you and your administration and the Democratic Party has be doing for the past year.
Go for it sir! We need you to be bold -- make history!