State of the Union, as It Was Spoken and as Decoded

By MARK LEIBOVICH, NYT
JAN. 29, 2014

WASHINGTON — In an excellent scene from “Mitt,” the new documentary about the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s two presidential campaigns, the filmmaker asks one of Mr. Romney’s sons, Josh, whether all the hassle and indignity of campaigning is worth it. Josh Romney hesitates, saying that he had been so “trained” to deliver scripted happy talk in media interviews, that this might be hard. “To actually speak my mind is very different,” he finally says.

He goes on to offer his standard sound bite (“It’s been so great to get to know the country”) followed by a “translation” of what he actually thinks: (“This is so awful.”)

In this spirit, we offer our best translation of what President Obama really meant Tuesday night as he delivered his State of the Union address — the annual set-piece that is perhaps the most scripted, revised, edited, vetted and scrubbed performance a president gives every year.

After each line from the actual text of the speech, we have offered what we imagine was the presidential thought bubble behind it. A decoder ring, if you will.

(More here.)