This evening, President Obama spent a fairly large chunk of the early part of his fifth State of the Union regurgitating the same tired ideas and bromides to fix the economy that we heard in his first State of the Union. This, even though these policies have delivered the slowest and most lackluster economic recovery in almost a century.

From there, the President jumped to the issue he really cares about: overseeing every aspect of American life. After promising not to increase the deficit by one dime and to fix the weather so the planet cools, Obama then promised pre-school for very child, scorecards for every college (who better to judge education quality than the federal government!) and fixing wait-times at the voting booth. Obama then closed the show with a chant about gun control.

A few minutes after the president’s speech, Florida Senator Marco Rubio gave the Republican response, during which there was an awkward moment when he stopped to take a sip of water.  

Now, here in America, the state of our union is dismal. Poverty’s up, unemployment’s up, wages are down and the GDP’s collapsed.

So what do you think the media as a whole discussed after the speeches were  over?

Flipping through five networks, I did not hear a single word from any anchor or talking head about the current state of the American economy. Rubio’s water sip, however —  which will be used by the media all day tomorrow to distract from his message — received all kinds of media attention.

As for the rest of the coverage, the media understood what Obama wanted them to do and they are now doing exactly that. The Narrative coming out of the speech is all about the issues a recent Pew poll showed as dead last on the list of Americans’ priorities: gun control, immigration, and the luxury problem of having to sometime wait in long lines to vote.

In other words, all the media’s talking about is what Obama wants them to talk about — cultural issues that distract, divide, and keep everyone from paying attention to the issues American care about most: a lack of jobs and an out-of-control deficit.  

 

Follow  John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC