I've stopped watching the State of the Union, because I never cared for kabuki.
But I also have come to find the GOP response to the SOTU to be hilarious. This morning, NPR had Ted Cruz (R-Butthurt) among others complaining that the president was being political in his political address that Cruz was now making a political attack on for political advantage.
If I took what the GOP was saying as being anything other than cynical, I would question their basic grasp of American governance. As Josh Marshall writes, Obama basically has denied them the moment of humility that the GOP thinks they are owed because of the midterm elections. He admitted a "pasting" in 2010, but in 2014, he's basically over all of that.
Obama is talking past the GOP Congress, which is sure to cause Ron Fornier to complain about Obama's "lack of humility" (how long before the word "uppity" slips out somewhere). But at this point, there is no point in pretending that the two parties can come together and do anything. Even when Obama put forward GOP programs from the past, even when he abused the Left with his "Grand Bargain" scheme in 2011, the GOP repeatedly refused to deal with him. They wanted capitulation not compromise.
So, Obama is basically saying, "Fine, let's stop pretending. We don't agree on practically anything. But I've been right and you've been wrong."
Frankly, that's a form of theater I can tolerate.
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