State of the Union ** Final Thoughts

I have read the transcript of President Bush's SOTU speech and my dominant thought is he threw down the gauntlet on his domestic agenda. My hope was that he would clearly explain the need for urgency on both budgetary restraint and social security reform. I think he accomplished the goal with social security. Anyone who listened with an open mind could easily understand the problem and the potential solution. As far as controlling spending most people probably don't even remember that he discussed the issue. He used foreign policy as a strong finisher. Some people want more specifics on foreign affairs. However, operational security sometimes makes it seem that some matters (North Korea for example) get short changed.

The Democratic response to the SOTU was absolutely unwatchable. It was a tag team with Harry Reid Senate minority leader and Nancy Pelosi House minority leader. Based on their performance we can expect they will remain in the minority. I left the room when Reid was telling some goofy story that a 10 year old kid with a skateboard came up to him in a restaurant and said he wanted to be like Reid when he grows up. It's bad enough these guys lie to us about social security and foreign affairs, but now they are making up stories about little kids. How many 10 year olds dream about growing up to be an elderly guy with a bad haircut? And Pelosi? I have to an uncontrollable urge to throw the remote at the TV when ever her visage appears.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has a link to Jeff Goldstein from Protein Wisdom which summarizes in plain language the Democratic response. Here is a snippet of his work. Click on the link for the rest.

I sum up the official Democratic response to the State of the Union address

Iraq: DON’T BELIEVE YOUR EYES! IT’S A FREAKING MESS!

Social Security: WITH OUR PLAN, EVERYONE GETS BENEFITS FOR EVER AND EVER, AND NOTHING EVER NEED CHANGE. WITH THE PRESIDENT’S PLAN? HELL ON EARTH AND ETERNAL DAMNATION