The President stood in Washington this week and gave a long speech about unity, recovery, and resolve. Flags waved, cameras panned, applause rose in predictable rhythms. The State of the Union carried its usual mix of theater and policy.
In Shoreacres, the words filtered through televisions in living rooms where people worried less about Ukraine strategy and more about the price of gas. At the corner store, customers shook their heads: $3.79 a gallon and climbing. That’s the number they measure leadership by.
Big speeches don’t patch driveways, don’t refill shelves, don’t slow the meter at the pump. But they do reveal what leaders choose to emphasize. The gap between that emphasis and local experience is where cynicism grows.
On my street, neighbors talk about practical things: trimming trees before storm season, splitting the cost of bulk propane, checking whether the school bus will still arrive on time. The union that matters is smaller than the one on camera. It’s the union of people keeping each other steady when institutions drift into slogans.