Silence is golden . . or is it?

We haven't been blogging because nothing has been happening of late in the endless negotiations  over international tariff reform and the reduction of agricultural subsidies. But now the silence has reached another place: The President's State of the Union address.
I hadn't noticed it until I read this and I still don't know what it means. Does this silence mean the President is going to stand up to the farmers over subsidies or does it mean that he, um, just forgot. Any silence analysts out there with a take on this?