Should Obama give an explicitly partisan State of the Union?

There has been some joking and even some halfway serious talk about Barack Obama no longer giving a f*ck what anyone thinks. Comedian Larry Wilmore thought that after last year’s State of the Union. The argument is that the president’s increasingly bold actions of late, particularly with regard to uses of his executive power, are indications that he is going to finish his way. 

Then there’s this amazing thing, which looks like an invitation to the after-party. 

But the true DGAF move would be to skip the custom of two-termers delivering their last State of the Union speech—the standard list of proposals and goals—and simply make an explicit argument for the permanence of his legacy. It is what Jamelle Bouie argued for today in Slate, and I’d love to see it actually happen. 

I’m not after some popcorn-munching thrill, but instead the sight of Obama standing up for his accomplishments in the face of a real threat: the possibility of a Republican successor.

Screw decorum. I hope Obama doesn’t try to convince us that the union is strong so much as that his policies have made it stronger.