Personally I put absolute zero stock in what the pundits and talking heads say afterwards. When the words come directly out of the President's mouth, I much prefer to make up my own mind about what is BS and what is not, rather than having these morons on the news try to distill it for me. Howard Dean's showing in Iowa and New Hampshire last year proved that the media (a) can't cram an opinion down the throat of voters to make it a reality and (b) is genuinely detached from popular sentiment on either side of the aisle.

All this said, the State of the Union is perhaps the most important speech for any U.S. citizen to tune in to (to everybody else, I apologize on the country's behalf for pre-empting your prime time shows). Yes, it is carefully penned, but it is far from B.S. It is the one constitutionally mandated speech where the three branches of government convene to hear the President's legislative agenda for the coming year. It illustrates the direction he intends to take the country more than any campaign speech ever will. Furthermore, when you watch, you can see where the opposition party intends to support the agenda, and where the opposition intends to block.

Given that our hard-earned and easily wasted tax dollars are at stake, we should give a damn about them. Furthermore, you should be incited to act based on what the President says. If on any given point you disagree with the President's agenda, it is imperative that you write your Representative and Senators -- even before writing on, say, this forum. After all, Jay may be the Emperor of OriginalTrilogy.com, but he doesn't have any discretion over how tax dollars get alloted. Remember, free speech was intended to petition the government, not just to protect the right to grouse among your friends. People have been doing that -- even in oppressive societies -- for centuries. Washington counts on our apathy to see that things stay as they are. But when people actually get involved, that is what creates change.