What's Not There May Mean More Than What Is

Thinking about President Obama's State of the Union speech, I flashed back to Harvard Law School Professor Ben Kaplan's cogent statement on the first day of our freshman class in civil procedure. He told us that what gets lawyers in trouble is not what they put on their lists of important things, but what they  leave off.

At a time when struggling American families, who have played by the rules, are furious about the self-serving greed of the banking and financial industry not one word was said by the President about new ethical standards for these industries and their people. At a time when the pharmaceutical industry has flooded Representatives,Senators and their political parties with political donations, not one word was said about ethical standards. People who have lost their insurance, people who have insurance but cannot obtain the health services they need, and health care providers are aware of the use of industry money to assure that the insurance industry's desires are fulfilled while their families' and patients' health needs remain unmet, have lost their trust in government and corporate institutions and received no solace from President Obama's words which simply left out any reference to meaningful ethical standards with respect to health reform. Ethical reform for health care hasn't made the list.

The other item which was left off the list during the President's speech was respect from the Republican minority sitting arrogantly in the hall behaving in accordance with its own agenda. Evident disrespect is a disturbing negative.

Ben Kaplan was right. There was a lot to learn that night from what wasn't there.