[Hard to tell why the woman in the video is working herself up to jump off a bridge. Maybe it’s Jolson’s voice.]

I’m posting this right before the State of the Union address, in the hope that my remarks will seem old and unfair after Barack Obama speaks — i.e., after he makes a stirring, substantive, FDR-style speech that reveals he hasn’t connived from the start with the corporate cutthroats whose notion of a healthy economy entails drastic, permanent downsizing of the American workforce.

Even Arianna Huffington, who wouldn’t even pay the freelancers who helped her make a fortune at Huffington Post, couldn’t help noting a few days ago that Obama has been the anti-FDR when it comes to job creation:

“The great thing right now is that he has the public on his side,” Arianna said, in a response to a question about Obama’s newfound confidence.

But she went on to say that “jobs and growth are not on his agenda,” which is “absolutely stunning” considering that his campaign rhetoric depended heavily on “the American dream — saving it for the middle class.” Since being elected, she concluded, his drive on the issue is “nowhere to be found.”

Stunning is the word, especially in light of the expectations of most of the people who helped elect Obama twice. But wait — it’s almost time for Obama to prove us cynics have been wrong all along, he’s not really in office to preside over the transformation of America into a land where low wages and no benefits are the norm. He’s not really a Dem In Name Only.

Whatever he says, I’m sure it will sound very pretty.