So did he say/leave out anything you were surprised by?
And to think, the president used to deliver a letter to Congress regarding the state of the Union. Imagine that! I believe that's all the Constitution requires.
I was actually thinking about that while he was speaking.
On a lighter note.... when I was an undergrad I would get together with a few other political science students (my minor) and we would take a drink every time he said "freedom" or "liberty," this would always lead to a drunken stuper by ten o' clock. Tonight I lost count at 17 by 9:33. I think this one could have been deadly for anyone trying to play that game.
I've played that game before, it's great. Plus, he said "nucular" this year. That was always a finish-your-drink moment with my crowd.
Three hundred fifty-seven days to go.
I've been asking around this AM, and have yet to find anyone who saw it, including myself. It's amazing and sad how little I could care about what he has to say. Republicans should be angry as hell with him, as it looks like he's messed up the party for a decade.
As a Republican, I don't really see it that way.
Am I disappointed with some of his decisions? Yes. But I bet they are not the ones that you think I should be upset with him over. I am upset that Republicans (and this includes him and those in Congress) did such a poor job on spending, and have only now, since they have returned to minority status, remembered the fiscal responsibility bedrock that once dominated the party. I am disappointed with him over his immigration policy, but happy with the Republicans that stood firm against it.
On the other hand, I am quite happy with the Supreme Court justices that he brought in. I think the War on Terror was the correct course of action, even if the strategies for prosecuting it have not always been the best (but show me a war that has ever been perfectly executed).
Much has been made about how ineffective President Bush would be following the '06 midterm elections. They have been calling him a lame duck since November '06. And yet it is the Democrats who have had more of their agenda thwarted. He has gotten the funding he asked for the military, despite all the chest-thumping of the opposition. He lost the immigration battle, but he short-sightedly chose to jettison his base on that issue, foolishly thinking that Democrats would join in solidarity with him on that issue.
I am quite interested in how this will all play out in the coming years. Remember that Ronald Reagan was viciously hated by the Democrats. KGB records even show how Ted Kennedy had tried to broker a deal with the Soviets to help prevent him from winning the election. And yet 20 years following his tenure in office, the mood is much different. Compare that to Bill Clinton, who already has seen the apparent luster of his 8 years in office become tarnished, much by his own doing.
I've been asking around this AM, and have yet to find anyone who saw it, including myself. It's amazing and sad how little I could care about what he has to say. Republicans should be angry as hell with him, as it looks like he's messed up the party for a decade.
I am quite interested in how this will all play out in the coming years. Remember that Ronald Reagan was viciously hated by the Democrats....And yet 20 years following his tenure in office, the mood is much different. Compare that to Bill Clinton, who already has seen the apparent luster of his 8 years in office become tarnished, much by his own doing.
The prosecution of the war was a direct effect of Bush's reliance on Rumsfeld (and that's aside from any discussion on the choice to wage the SECOND war). Reagan, love him or hate him, was a real man. You're probably too young to remember this, when our Marines got blown up, Reagan got on TV, stood in front of the American people, and basically said "This was my fault, and I'm sorry". With Bush, he takes ultimate responsibility for absolutely nothing. For example, on 9/11, we saw the effects of a huge lapse in national security. I'd expect ANY president of any party to stand up and apologize for letting such a lapse exists. Yeah, you could certainly argue about whether it was a Clinton problem or a Bush problem, but its irrelevant. Our government let us down, and I've yet to hear an apology from our government.
One thousand people DIED in New Orleans, many of them because of inefficiencies (not to mention the incompetence caused by croneyistic practices) in our government FOLLOWING the flood. Somebody owes the families of those people an apology. It won't come from this administration.
The inability to accept responsibility is the main failing. It's hubris, pure and simple, and its been there since Day 1.