For Obama, a polite State of the Union

By Dana Milbank
Thursday, January 28, 2010; A02

It was as cold as a meat locker in the House chamber Wednesday night as lawmakers filed in to hear President Obama''s State of the Union address. Several lawmakers donned overcoats. Two lawmakers wrapped themselves in blankets.

If the goal was to cool the partisan tempers that have split Washington and the nation for the past year, it was a success. Obama's speech was long, detailed and mostly conciliatory, and the reaction was bipartisan and tepid.

Obama spoke of Americans who "give back to their country." Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) yawned.

Obama spoke of the need to get beyond "silly arguments." Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) yawned.

Obama spoke of human rights in Iran. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) yawned.

Obama spoke about arms control. Christina Romer, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, yawned.

Obama spoke about a jobs bill. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer elbowed his colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had fallen asleep.

There was no shout of "You lie!" The one shout heard above all others from the Republican side came from Rep. Louie Gohmert (Tex.), after Obama exhorted the lawmakers to "show the American people that we can do it together."

"There we go!" Gohmert cried, getting to his feet to applaud the call to bipartisanship. Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), head of the House GOP caucus, joined Gohmert's standing ovation.

It would be naive to expect the good manners to last, but at the very least, lawmakers demonstrated that, if they worked really hard at it, they still had the ability to behave themselves.

Last fall, of course, an Obama address to a similar joint session of Congress was hijacked by the cry of a backbencher on the Republican side, Rep. Joe "You Lie!" Wilson of South Carolina.

Instead of earning disgrace for that, Wilson became a celebrity on the right, and his campaign fundraising swelled. The reaction caused others to contemplate the value of outbursts. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) voiced what others were surely wondering: "After he raised a few million dollars off of it, I was thinking, 'Why didn't I say that?' "

But the opposition was determined this time to be civil. The House Republican leader, John Boehner of Ohio, said at breakfast Wednesday morning that his side would be polite. "You invite someone to your home, you should be respectful and considerate," he said.

Obama made it easier to be polite. He didn't even mention health care until he was half an hour into his speech. The laughter came from both sides of the aisle when Obama joked, "I didn't take on health care because it was good politics." He delighted the opposition with his calls for new nuclear power plants, offshore oil and gas development, and clean coal technology.

After embarrassing themselves at Obama's last address by typing on their BlackBerrys as he spoke, most Republicans pocketed their devices this time. Sure, there were a few Republicans who spent much of the hour typing away, including Reps. Phil Gingrey (Ga.), Patrick McHenry (N.C.) and Bill Shuster (Pa). But Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), Mike Doyle (Pa.) and Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) could be seen texting, too.

There was the usual seesaw of alternating support from the Democratic and Republican sides. When Democrats cheered Obama's claims of various tax cuts but Republicans sat in grim silence, the president ad-libbed: "I thought I'd get some applause on that one."

There were grumbles among Republicans when Obama spoke of the Bush years as "the lost decade," and when the president mentioned the "overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change." When Obama told lawmakers to "let me know" if they have a better approach to health reform, Boehner stood and raised his hand to offer.

But the only thing approaching a disruption during the speech came from the Democratic side, where an unidentified man, believed to be a foreign diplomat, raised his hand and began to shout, "Mr. President!" One of the more visible displays of dissent came from, of all people, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who from his second-row seat appeared to mouth "not true" and shook his head "no" when Obama said last week's court ruling would allow foreign money in politics.

Among the best behaved in the chamber was Joe Wilson himself, who sat in the sixth row deep on the Republican side, almost the same spot where he was for his "You lie!" performance. When Obama made his entrance, Wilson stood and applauded for several minutes.

He jumped to his feet again when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) formally introduced Obama. He rose again to join Democrats in cheering Obama's claim that he has "never been more hopeful about America's future."

He was one of the first to his feet when Obama argued that "the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education." He even stood, though more slowly, for Obama's admonition that lawmakers "not walk away" from Americans without health insurance.

Even before Obama had finished, colleagues began trickling out to Statuary Hall for TV interviews. The moment Obama finished, there was a mad dash toward the cameras. But Wilson stood and applauded -- liberally -- until Obama departed. No lie.