I didn’t spend my whole evening watching the “State of the Union” last night. For one I am not much for long politically based speeches. Much of the meat and potatoes can be caught on the 11 o’clock news. Second, I as well as most Americans have our opinion on the state of the union….shaky. At least from the aspect of the average Americans pocketbook.
I did have it on in the background on CNN.com, and heard many of the key points. I noticed Iraq was played down quite a bit. I am really tired of hearing about the Iraq debate. It’s so easy now to any armchair general or anyone else to debate should we or should we not gone there. And it’s way too late to decide we shouldn’t. And as much as folks say we should just get out, we can’t. It’s too late for that. The mess is made, and now we have to stabilize it. Do I think we should have gone there? Probably. Do I think we rushed in? Yes. Do I think the government planned it well? No way.
Now I am sure someone disagrees with that assement, so I support your first amendment rights:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
I did listen a little more closely to his economy section. The economy is hurting right now, as well as the average middle class family. I support his stimulus plan, and applaud the house, for acting so quickly. Even Nancy Pelosi, who I find to be really annoying, and the first to blame everything on the president supports his plan, and encouraged the plan, and the bipartisanship the house demonstrated to pass it. Now the Senate can muck it up. It seems that they would like to.
I think the things they want to add are great, but I think we need to push through what we have and deal with the social security and unemployment extension separately.
John McCain was unusally subdued in his response. he didn’t seem to have much feedback other than this quote.
“I may have given a little more urgency to getting this stimulus passed immediately.”
What I really found childish was the remark Hillary made after the speech.
“Tonight is a red-letter night in American history,” Clinton said. “It is the last time George Bush will give the State of the Union. Next year, it will be a Democratic president giving it.”
Wow, are we in second grade? I am not a Hillary fan. I am actually not really a fan of any of the candidates on either side of the aisle. When can we have some real presidential candidates? Will one please raise their hand? Obama’s statement was not quite as childish.
“Tonight was President Bush’s last State of the Union, and I do not believe history will judge his administration kindly.”
History is strange. It has a habit of looking at the more positive things a president did over time. For example Herbert Hoover. As time passes he has gotten credit for the positive things he did, and less of the blame for the depression seems to fall on his shoulders.
Now I don’t love George Bush. I think he got in way over his head, and his lack of grasp of the English language makes his seem all the less presidential. But he stands by his decisions, good or bad. I also liked President Clinton. I hate the things he did as a person, but his policies as president were very moderate for a democrat. I tend to lean conservative myself, but always vote for the platform and policies, not the party. I fear the election for the next president will be decided by who the american public feels can do the least damage.
Last night could have been a moment for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to demonstrate the civility they say we need in our politics, but they failed. They were seated within a few seats of each other, but wouldn’t speak to each other, and actually made it pretty obvious they were ignoring each other. In addition much of the standing ovations the president gets are traditional, and have very little to do with the speech or the president. Barack Obama, if you watched decided to sit. Yeah we get it you don’t like the president. The standing ovations are tradition, so thanks Obama for thumbing you nose at them. Seriously, it’s like a second grade classroom. Oh wait, second graders are better behaved.
~Another Day
