CBS’s Bob Schieffer Swoons: Obama’s Speech Was ‘Uplifting’ with ‘Soaring Rhetoric’

At the conclusion of President Barack Obama’s 2015 State of the Union speech, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer offered plenty of praise for the President’s address by proclaiming it as “the best speech he’s made in awhile” with “soaring rhetoric” and being “uplifting at the end.”

In the moments right after the speech, Schieffer declared that the President’s seventh State of the Union was “the best speech he’s made in a while” and diagnosed him as being “more relaxed and at ease than I can recall in a long time.”

Schieffer found time to fret about Congress, lamenting how many who make up the new Congress were in the last one who “managed to do absolutely nothing in the space of two years, the least-productive Congress in history.” Nonetheless, Schieffer claimed to notice how the Republican Congress “gave him a very good reception” during his speech with there being “a feeling of good humor in the hall tonight.”

He then continued boasting about what he saw as positive vibes surrounding what was deemed “a good occasion”:

Of course, there were Republicans and Democrats, but they seemed to kind of enjoy it. Every time we cut to the crowd, you'd see people smiling, ribbing each other, punching each other in the ribs and something. It was – it was a good occasion.

Minutes later, Schieffer’s gushing over Obama returned and even went up in intensity (emphasis mine):

One of the things, Scott, we talked about how he rolled out so much of this before this speech tonight. Tonight, he could use the soaring rhetoric. He didn't have to go into details about, hey, you're the one whose taxes are going to be raised, and so forth, to pay for all of this. So probably, there was – that was maybe a smart thing to do, because tonight, this was a – this was a State of the Union speech that had more soaring rhetoric in it. It was uplifting at the end. Too many times, these are laundry lists of things and programs and get into a lot of details that just kind of bog him down. This was not that kind of a speech tonight, and I think that's why it went over well.

The relevant portions of the transcript from CBS’s State of the Union 2015 coverage on January 20 can be found below.

CBS State of the Union 2015 coverage
January 20, 2015
10:11 p.m. Eastern

BOB SCHIEFFER: I think it's the best speech he's made in awhile. You know, this has been a President at points in his presidency when you wondered if he liked politics, if he liked politicians, if he liked anything about the job, but tonight, going into a House there where you had a majority of Republicans for the first time, he seemed more relaxed and more at ease than I can recall in a long time. It was a speech aimed directly at the middle class. It was a speech aimed at putting Republicans on the defensive. He said we're going to turn a page. I'm not the sure the page has been turned yet, Scott. I mean, the proof of this pudding is going to be convincing these people who are out there tonight, who gave him a very good reception, convincing them to work together and you've got to remember, most of these people were members of the previous Congress that managed to do absolutely nothing in the space of two years, the least-productive Congress in history, but I thought the President made his points well, and he seemed to enjoy doing it and I thought there was a feeling of good humor in the hall tonight. Of course, there were Republicans and Democrats, but they seemed to kind of enjoy it. Every time we cut to the crowd, you'd see people smiling, ribbing each other, punching each other in the ribs and something. It was – it was a good occasion. I don't think we've turned any pages yet, but I think the President made a pretty good case for the way he sees it.

(....)

10:20 p.m. Eastern

SCHIEFFER:  One of the things, Scott, we talked about how he rolled out so much of this before this speech tonight. Tonight, he could use the soaring rhetoric. He didn't have to go into details about, hey, you're the one whose taxes are going to be raised, and so forth, to pay for all of this. So probably, there was – that was maybe a smart thing to do, because tonight, this was a – this was a State of the Union speech that had more soaring rhetoric in it. It was uplifting at the end. Too many times, these are laundry lists of things and programs and get into a lot of details that just kind of bog him down. This was not that kind of a speech tonight, and I think that's why it went over well.