About an hour before the State of the Union address, I felt an odd sensation come over me. Excitement. I had a level of anticipation higher than normal. I felt as excited as I did in college on Friday afternoons. Those great afternoons with no homework, no classes, just a killer sunset and the prospect of something good happening that night.
Back in those days, that prospect of something good was a party.
Now, it's a man talking behind a podium for an hour.
My, how things have changed.
I watched coverage on ABC (of course). The intro to the address summed up the importance of the speech. Random people on the street were asked to give direction to the government in three words. Some of the phrases "Bring back America" "Create more jobs" "Make America safe." You could see the emotion and desperation in the phrases they chose and way they looked at the camera. They were looking to President Obama as a leader. As the person who would provide guidance for a nation, supposedly coming out of a horrible recession, but not yet feeling that way. It's tough times, and all eyes are poised on him.
How could this not be exciting?
My story for the evening turned out to be local business reaction to the speech. A small portion was released early. It happened to be maybe the most talked about section of the speech: This is our generation's Sputnik moment.
I spoke with local businesses about Obama's focus on small business, innovation, and investing in Research and Development. Their thoughts echoed his: Money going to R & D will push technological limits and create jobs.
It was a really great story and I'm happy with how the package turned out. Unfortunately, because I used video from the address, we are not allowed to post it online. But you can trust me.
It was a pretty exciting evening. And as a I said before, it's not everyday that listening to someone in a suit talk for an hour is that interesting.
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