President Obama vows a different kind of State of the Union speech.

Such events usually involve a lengthy laundry list of policy proposals. Frankly, they bore the daylights out of me.

I prefer loftier rhetoric for these events.

What might the president say? The pessimists have laid down their marker. The country is going to hell; we’re in danger of being attacked; the economic recovery isn’t as good as it should be; most Americans think we’re heading along the “wrong track.”

My hunch is that Barack Obama is going to sound significantly more optimistic. To wit:

• We’ve added millions of new jobs over the past seven years.
• Joblessness has been cut in half.
• The budget deficit, which was more than $1 trillion annually when Obama took office, has been cut by more than half.
• Automakers, the housing industry and financial institutions are back.
• Stocks are way up (the recent correction notwithstanding).
• We’re still the most powerful nation on Earth . . . by a long shot.
• We haven’t been attacked by a terrorist group.