Religious Themes & the Continual Right-ward Drift in The State of the Union

Living afar and not hearing it live, I was quite intrigued by reading these two analyses of the State of the Union address by the POTUS earlier this week.

Sin, Sacrifice and the State of the Union

Religion in Politics: "The State of the Future"

And...to highlight all the weirdness and "drift" in the ever-changing landscape of American politics (more easily perceived from a vantage point outside the country, in my personal opinion) I recommend reading Rachel Maddow's assessment.  Her thesis: that Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower - if living in America today - would certainly now be considered a radical Lefty!  

I look forward to some more conversation about all this, so...any comments from the peanut gallery, for starters?

-Clair in Canberra