Every year, I plop down on my couch to watch the President’s State of the Union address. It’s really quite the ritual. I put my feet up and loudly chide and laud his speech to whomever will listen (and if no one, then to the TV itself). This year, my annual tradition was (pleasantly!) disrupted when I snagged an invite to the “State of The Union Viewing and Open for Questions Event,” hosted by The White House’s Offices of New Media and Public Engagement. Despite being someone who hates change, I was really quite excited to be one of around 100 people who will have the opportunity to watch and respond to the State of the Union in a new and different way.
Filmed in the White House’s South Auditorium, the event was shown live on whitehouse.gov and consisted of participating in a Q&A after a viewing of the site’s live stream of President Obama’s address. This viewing and Q&A is one in a series of events the White House is putting on in an effort to create accessibility to the administration through social media and the Internet, which is fitting considering that Obama’s address emphasized connectedness and prosperity through just that.
The South Auditorium turned out to be an unassuming venue equipped with the largest plasma television I have ever seen; this television proved perfect for closely watching (literally and figuratively) Obama’s mug for an hour and fifteen minutes, and also for displaying some videos of the President and Mrs. Obama from the past two years. As the screen counted down the minutes to the speech, interns and entry-level associates of mostly non-profit organizations eagerly chattered and networked with each other, some introducing themselves to anyone who wasn’t buried in a smart phone. Many of us, including myself, excitedly snapped pictures of the set up: the TV monitor that would show the address (it really was THAT big!), the cameras that would stream our bright and shining faces live on the internet, and of course Kalpen Modi, the charming moderator and former movie star who now serves as the President’s liason to the young people around the country.
This State of the Union viewing was much different than being in my PJs on the couch. It felt like watching the address in a movie theater without the popcorn, and I HATE people who talk during movies so that quashed any desire I might have had to shout out my personal armchair pundit comments. So instead, I sat still, looked straight ahead, listened, and watched the White House’s live stream version of the address. It included a sidebar that showed graphics, easy to understand statistics, a break down of Obama’s plan for “Winning the Future,” and some pictures of the President popping up behind a big and “innovative” steel machine and then again behind a set of test tubes in an “educational” classroom. This sidebar was a distraction during the speech’s longer points, but perfect for us ADD-prone youngsters in case we found ourselves suddenly thinking, “What should I wear to work tomorrow?” or “I really wish I had cell phone service.” (I swear I never thought either of those two things!)
When the address was over, the live stream immediately cut over to the audience, ready to ask questions of the panelists. We heard from Ben Rhodes (Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting), Brian Deese (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director, National Economic Council), and Roberto Rodriguez (Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy). This team of administration officials patiently and successfully answered questions Tweeted and Facebooked from SOTU viewers, including those in the live audience. Most of the questions concerned Obama’s plans for education, such as how to make teaching jobs more appealing and how to make financial aid more accessible. One audience member asked about the country’s transition into renewable energy. Mr. Rhodes spoke in depth about foreign policy, most interestingly discussing the current events in Sudan and the US involvement. Mr. Deese warned of the debates and complaints that will arise once Obama reveals more details regarding his potentially controversial, but necessary “five year freeze” on spending.
Before I could shoot my hand up again to ask my own question, it was 11:15pm and the show was over. It was a long night of listening, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I learned from simply keeping my mouth shut. I was one of the lucky few to enjoy the instant gratification of asking questions about the President’s speech and having them immediately seen and answered by administration officials. With the open forum social media afforded the Q&A, it’s no surprise that so many questions streamed in. I wish I had been able to ask mine, but I guess I’ll just have to wait until next year when I can Tweet it from my couch.
In the mean time, I’ll pose it to you guys: “Many reports say that with split parties in Congress not much will get done in the next two years, but for young people this is our future and we don’t want to wait. What should Congress prioritize so that in 2012 they have real progress to show the Millennial generation that comprises the 21st century electorate?”
What do you think the right answer is?
