I want to talk about last night’s big news out of Washington. However, the Redskins reported trade for quarterback Alex Smith will have to wait.

Last night was Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address. For very good reason one would half expect Trump to treat the hallowed House chamber the way drummer Keith Moon used to treat hotel rooms. Instead, Trump was — and oh, how some hated to say it — “presidential.” By Peter Hasson’s count at The Daily Caller, he said “we” 139 times, “our” 104 times; “I” only 29 times. The content and delivery drew comparisons to Ronald Reagan. The length drew comparisons to Bill Clinton.

In fact, at 80 minutes Trump’s speech was the longest SOTU since Clinton’s 2000 address. That clocked in at 1:28.

Sure, the Huffington Post called the speech “banal,” the New York Times warned it was “ominous” and CNN huffed about it, then returned to the Russia issue. (Enough with the Obsessive Collusion Disorder already.) However, the general assessment is President Trump nailed it. This includes two people with well publicized hostility toward Trump in the past: Glenn Beck and Frank Luntz.

The Blaze founder gave Trump a 9.

#sotu #donaldjtrump #potus I am not sure what the North Korean or Russian judge will give him. But this American judge gives him a 9.0. The author gets a 10.0 a perfect score. Very strong.

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) January 31, 2018

The noted pollster Luntz even apologized to the President.

Tonight, I owe Donald Trump an apology. Tonight, I was moved and inspired. Tonight, I have hope and faith in America again.

It may go away tomorrow…
But tonight, America is great again. #SOTU

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) January 31, 2018

Overall, a CNN poll found 48% of respondents had a “very positive” reaction to Trump’s speech. The CBS poll showed a 75% approval. Those were approval numbers that would make any politician drool. (Yes, that was a Joe Kennedy III joke. But let’s cut the kid slack. Giving a State of the Union rebuttal is the most thankless task in politics … next to being forced to listen to Maxine Waters.)

The Sad-Sack Democrats

It’s fitting so many Democrats wore black. They looked like they’d been to a funeral … where they were the corpse. Their refusal to applaud or stand for virtually any of the good news the President was sharing was off-putting. What’s wrong with putting your hands together, people? Worried you’ll give yourself a flu bug?

Roughly 20% of the Democrats there refused to acknowledge the President’s arrival. Rep. Judy Chu was even reading a newspaper. Newspaper people don’t even read newspapers. The reaction was juvenile.

“Maybe if we ignore him he’ll go away.” Grow up. He’s a guest of Congress. Welcoming illegals into the country but not the President of the United States into your House is a very bad look.

The Congressional Black Caucus didn’t move a muscle when the President touted the historically low black unemployment figures. Perhaps they were too busy contemplating their next friendly get together with Obama and Louis Farrakhan. I get it. You’re mad at the “bleephole countries” remark. Why take it out on now employed African-Americans? Even if you had shouted “Thank you, Obama!” at least that would have been an acknowledgement of the good. And it would have been funny.

A rousing chant of “USA! USA!” appeared to send Rep. Luis Gutierrez fleeing from the chamber like Dracula from sunlight.

Nancy Pelosi? Poor soul looked like someone on hold with the cable company with a house full of guests and the Super Bowl starting in five.

All told, when the nation is feeling optimistic for the first time in a long while, looking as grumpy as a ’90s goth band will backfire.

A question for America: “Why in the world would you ever want to give political power in America to people who can’t celebrate the good fortune of Americans?”

Melania Looking Marvelous

The First Lady was greeted with thunderous applause, and maybe even a few catcalls. She looked spellbinding. Like a supermodel. Melania was wearing a white Dior pantsuit. CNN speculated she was wearing white because she was protesting her husband’s alleged affair with a porn star. (Denied again by Stormy Daniels on Tuesday) No, girlfriend. Melania was wearing white because she can.

The Hill tried to make a big deal out of Melania arriving separately, calling it a break from tradition. I sooooo much wanted her to say, “Oh, Donald’s running late. He’s busy reading a memo.” Unfortunately, she’s far too classy.

Random Observations

The line of the night? “Americans are dreamers too.” Sure, it’ll be called even more racist than saying “All lives matter” but it works on more levels than a video game.

Trump said, “If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve anything.” Half the Senate went, “Work hard? You mean four days a week?!?!?!”

Trump said he was “extending an open hand” to Democrats. Usually on Capitol Hill when someone extends an open hand a donor puts money into it.

Trump announced that he was going to keep Gitmo open. He said he made the decision after reading the Nunes memo. (Just kidding.) However, Trump was caught on an open mic after the speech telling a GOP congressman he’s “100 percent” for releasing the memo.

The speech had many lump-in-the-throat moments. Particularly when Ji Seong-ho stood and lifted his crutches above his head. Curious that a guy with no legs can manage to stand to celebrate freedom, but Democrats were unable to stand when Trump offered support for the National Anthem.

Fortunately, crutches in the air trumps partisans in their seats. And “we” and “our” beat the pants off “boo” and “hoo.”