Tea Party Response Ineffective and Embarrassing

Following the President's State of the Union address Tuesday night, both the Republican Party and the Tea Party issued official responses. The fact that the Tea Party issued an official response is strange because the Tea Party is not a political party at all. It is a movement within the folds of the already existing Republican Party, and as such undercut the official Republican response.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann issued the Tea Party rebuttal after the two official political parties had given their remarks. One of the first things she said in her introduction, according to NPR's official transcript of the speech, is that she was not there to "compete with the official Republican remarks." This line in her address was only necessary because the Republican Party knew she was competing with the Republican response and they were not happy about it.

President Barack Obama's State of the Union was a very forward-looking speech. He spoke at length about striving to "win the future." He laid out plans for clean energy, education, and infrastructure. The President spoke about the greatness of America and how to return us to a strong and prosperous nation. He used non-divisive language and seemed very presidential.

Congresswoman Bachmann's speech, on the other hand, was a disaster from the start. According to CNN's Political Ticker blog, there were two cameras in the room. One was for the Tea Party Express website and the other was the pool camera feeding the broadcast live to CNN and later on to Fox News. Bachmann spent the entire speech staring at the website camera and totally ignoring the one that was broadcasting to the majority of viewers. This created a huge disconnect between her and the viewers, as well as just looking plain weird.

Her remarks lasted a very brief six minutes and consisted of only one real message. The economy has struggled over the past two years and as a result unemployment is too high. This was not news to the American people. While the President was talking about the future of the country and what we need to do to get there, all Bachmann did was talk about the past. Strangely, this approach plays right into Democratic hands as they want to be seen as the party of progress that will help move the United States forward; the Republicans were seen as relics of the past, pushing us in reverse.

In the end, the speech only served to elevate Michele Bachmann's profile. The entire event could only have embarrassed the Republican Party at best, and, at worst, created real divisions between the Tea Party and mainstream Republicans. In a time when America faces real challenges, Bachmann and the Tea Party only served up amateur hour as a solution.

Sources:
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/26/133230238/transcript-tea-party-response-from-rep-bachmann
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/26/bachmanns-camera-blunder/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41262144/ns/politics-white_house/