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It is simply not worth the time or effort to conduct any deep analysis of Barack Obama's State of the Union charade. The overwhelming majority of its coverage from the "mainstream" media could have been written well before the event. Obama would advance a nanny-state agenda of bigger and more intrusive government, interspersed with patriotic sounding platitudes of individual empowerment and the American dream. In response, the media would laud every utterance from the neophyte president as if he had received it on tablets of stone from the slopes of Mount Sinai.

Yet despite all of the glowing accolades from the usual sources, the entirety of the Obama agenda has been painfully predictable. He intends to "tax the wealthy" and use the plunder to buy votes from America's diligently preserved underclass. The end game is to grow the ranks of the perennially needy to the point that their support for Obama and the Democrats will make the liberal political machine virtually invincible. From such a perspective, Obama's speech was at once ominous and a smashing success.

Given the scripted nature of this purely symbolic ceremony, abetted by the media with all of its inane fawning, it might seem peculiar that so much energy is now being devoted to the political obliteration of Obama's critics. But such is indeed the case, and the inordinate amount of negative attention directed at Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is indicative of the real threat he and the conservatism he espouses pose to the liberal ideology.

Reaction to Governor Jindal from the media was universally scornful, as would be expected. Even before Jindal began to speak, MSNBC spokesman Chris Matthews voiced his disgust from off camera. But while Matthews' immediate target was Jindal, his outburst was really reflective of the contempt held by the entire liberal media/political establishment towards all of heartland America.

To hear Jindal's severest critics (who, not surprisingly, also happen to be Obama's most ardent supporters), one might presume that the future of the country will not be determined from the implementation of any particular set of ideals, but solely on the basis of how well a speaker can deliver his message, whether or not it contains any substance. It is as if the fortunes of the nation rest on an American Idol contest from inside the Beltway, with no weight given to the particulars of the agenda. And on that front it is Obama, with his flowery rhetoric and far-reaching invocations of grandiose but totally empty promises (the ocean levels will begin to recede), who rules the day.

Governor Jindal sought not to dazzle Americans with sweeping pronouncements, but rather to inspire them with real and worthy ideas. From the opening of his commentary, he made it plain that he would not be engaging in any contest of oratory against Obama. He could leave the extravagant rhetoric to those who have nothing else of real value to offer the American people. Jindal instead sought to reach out with the strength of his ideas. And in the long run, that will remain as the real essence of what the nation wants and needs.

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