Who Wrote this Stuff?

President Trump used his State of the Union address this year for all the usual purposes -- such as pointing to some heroic individuals he had invited to take seats in the balcony, and warming himself in the sun of their reflected wonderfulness. That was boringly traditional.

But what struck me was the badness of the speech, the prepared text, as a piece of writing.

Example: as POTUS headed toward his conclusion, he went into this bit of ... something-or-other.

"Here tonight, we have legislators from across this magnificent republic. You have come from the rocky shores of Maine and the volcanic peaks of Hawaii, from the snowy woods of Wisconsin and the red deserts of Arizona, from the green farms of Kentucky and the golden beaches of California. Together, we represent the most extraordinary nation in all of history. What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered?"

Presumably "we" will be remembered as the people who had to listen to this string of geographical/geological cliches. From the rocky shores of Maine to the golden beaches of California, Americans everywhere stared at our television screens and wondered when this would be over. Some of us surely started easing the tedium by thinking of state-related cliches that could have been added to the list.

"You have come from amidst the little red hens of Rhode Island, the gunk-covered sidewalks of New York, the yellow roses of Texas, and the absurdly ice-covered ten thousand lakes of whatever state that is that has 10,000 lakes."

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