How considerate of the media for Hillary to sit directly behind Obama.
I am not sure what channel you are watching but on WQED they said that he has very few applause (?pauses?) in his speech tonight.
That sounds to me like a good reason to watch it.
Praising the first Madam Speaker, praising the people in uniform – always a good start.
True. I liked the intro.
You know, I wonder if this would be like football. Record it all first on the DVR, then skip all the applause. You could probably compress a 1 hour speech down to 15 minutes.
“Close the federal deficit within five years” – I translate that as “I plan to leave my successor holding the bag.”
“Save Social Security” – every year the date the Social Security trust fund goes into crisis mode gets pushed out another few years.
Will the chamber erupt in laughter when Bush claims with a straight face that:
“The state of our union has never been stronger!”
Anyone else get the feeling of an award show where the flash to all the glamorous people to see how they are reacting and what they are wearing? I feel like it is only one step away from having Melissa and Joan provide running commentary.
Suddenly I’m hearing echos of Bill Clinton’s health care reform efforts.
I agree with efforts to use IT to reduce medical errors. But a big fat tax deduction for everybody?
“The best health care decisions … are made by patients and their doctors!” Again, echos of HMO-reform attempts.
Won’t increasing the strategic oil reserve increase the amount of oil we import?
Probably. It depends partly on how much Gulf of Mexico production capacity can be put back on line.
Even so, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve isn’t enough to stabilize US consumption over a long enough period, as I recall.
61 actually. Impressive guess.
Did he actually talk about balancing the budget?!! 
Hmmm.
As I understood it, the President apparrently thinks that we are currently at war, and we will remain at war until peace and love and happiness and joy are found everywhere on the planet, Hell freezes over, or there are no more terrorists. Whichever comes first. Therefore, the massive expansion of Executive Power, absolutely necessary for a Nation at War, is permanent.
Anything less than a free, democratic Iraq, that freely chooses to support America and Freedom is unacceptable.
Guess I’ll give the Druidic Response:
Mr. President, you’re a fuckwit. We are not at war. Haven’t been since 1945. Nations go to war with other nations. Nations do not go to war with a bunch of bearded guys hitting a hookah and singing Jihad. The Iraqi People pretty much hate you, and all Americans. This is because you invaded their country without provocation, toppled their government, and hanged their President by proxy.
The survival of the United States is not now at risk. Our survival as a nation was never threatened by terrorists. 100 planes hitting 100 buildings wouldn’t do that. The measures you’ve taken to counter the terrorists have done more harm to America than any terrorist ever has. Your little gulag in Cuba is a festering boil on the National Honor. The Patriot Act is an abomination. Domestic wiretapping without a warrant is shameful. Warrantless demands for library, banking, and other personal records in the name of “National Security” make us less free today than we were on September 10, 2001.
Mr. President, you’ve attempted to kill an ant with a sledgehammer. And failed. Miserably.
Nitpick: Hanged, not hung.
A sledgehammer would kill an ant. Actually, the Admin’s strategy has been more like using a machine gun to rid a house of termites.
Just like Vietnam.
You know, these SOTU addresses would be a lot easier to watch if the consensus rules of decorum were more like the British House of Commons at question time – i.e., the opposition being entirely free to hoot, jeer, boo, laugh at, or grill the speaker.
Well, yeah, a sledgehammer would kill an ant pretty dead. But a flyswatter would kill the ant just as dead, cost a lot less, do less collateral damage, and require less effort to wield.
Anyone else see how fast Kerry ran out of there at the end? Think he’s still bitter?