From time to time, as written in the Constitution, the president will inform Congress about the state of our union. It’s hard to imagine the Framers selling the event as an opportunity for drinking games (i.e., take a sip of liquor when the president says, “Let me be clear,” which, to the merriment of our livers, he didn’t). Then again, they didn’t see Wednesday’s cliche-ridden 70-minute speech.

It’s time we did away with the same old Washington way of constantly bringing up “the same old Washington way of doing things.” That means that when we think “we must answer history’s call,” as the president suggests we must, we should consider the failure of cash for clunkers and the boondoggle of the stimulus, and just let history’s call ring through to voicemail.