Some Thoughts On the State of the Union Address

Some promises, some ideas, some pledges for funding, and some good old-fashioned finger-wagging. There wasn't much new in tonight's address, and if it was new, it was probably Bush complaining that Congress hasn't been giving him what he wants.

The MSNBC guys made a good point not too long after the speech was over in saying that it was almost a tacit endorsement of John McCain due to the issues the speech centered on: terror, war, and terror. There was almost nothing of substance on the economy, and very little if anything at all on health care.

The only real mention of the economy other than the occasional statement that everyone has it tough was an admonishment to the Senate to not mess around with the stimulus package. If you're out of the loop on that one, some Senate Democrats have plans to add rebates for people on Social Security and extended unemployment benefits to the package as it exists, which everyone but Bush and a few other Republicans seems to agree is a fine idea.

I suppose to be fair, I should also mention that Bush talked about the economy within the bounds of taxes, and vowed to veto any tax increase which comes his way. Which is not really talking about the economy at all, but rather blindly adhering to a Republican party line that has so little relevance in today's world — in what is, in fact, a faltering economy that is directly Bush's creation via the Iraq War — as to sound almost Vaudevillian.

I feel like Kathleen Sebelius' delivery of the Democratic response was a ringing indictment of Bush's final-year bluster that made plenty of good points: that the Democratic Party is the majority now, and the Democratic Party represents the American mainstream; and that Bush and the Republican Party have done little to engage Americans on meeting the challenges faced by them, or to help solve the common problems faced by most American families.

So, in all, nothing much new from President Bush. He indicated that a lot of lofty things have to be done immediately (stopping Iran, fixing immigration, defeating terrorism) but made no promises or concrete plans other than to veto anything that rejects the broken politics of old and searches for new solutions to the problems America faces in the 21st Century. I'm not surprised.