SOTU

A few thoughts on the State of the Union address before I get spun to death.

1. I'm a big fan of a so called Manhattan Project to reduce dependence on foreign oil. I thought the speech tonight was most notable for an oilman declaring that we are "addicted to oil." I think that his request to improve math and science education dovetails well with research into new types of energy as well as acceleration of existing alternative energy sources. Unfortunately, words aren't often followed by deeds with Bush so I'll be skeptical to see if anything happens.

2. I thought it was interesting that he mentioned Social Security reform from last year and gave Dems an applause line. When I was really into the debate last year, I recall it was Bush's stubborness to give up on private accounts that really doomed progress when there were compromise measures on the table. By recommending a bipartisan research panel, I hope that this is a harbinger of conciliation and not the creation of a debating society.

3. For the majority of the speech, he seemed to be speaking in broad strokes that were hard for most people to argue with. Other than the above, I didn't find it to be rhetorically compelling.

4. Speaking of rhetoric, he corrected one of my pet peeves by saying that we had killed or captured many Al Qaeda leaders, instead of "75%" of Al Qaeda leaders. Unfortunately he laughably continued to suggest that those that oppose his wiretapping also oppose fighting terrorism.

5. I still don't get the logic that if we fight them over there, we don't have to fight them over here. He repeated this again and it seems rhetorically dangerous. Just because we've been lucky and have evaded attacks doesn't mean this will always be the case. After 9/11 Britain certainly tightened up their security, but that didn't preven the London bombings.

6. The rest we've all heard before a hundred times. Freedom's on the march. Democracies aren't terrorists (except apparently in Palestine). Affordable healthcare for all Americans. Tax cuts. No child left behind. Blah, blah, blah.

7. The elephant in the room for me when he gave his laundry list of tyrannies (Syria, Iran, Burma, etc.) was China. It's a tyranny. He said 50% of the world is free. Get some elections in China and that becomes 75%. I realize that it would be political and economic suicide to mention this, but it's still notable.

Now I'm off to be spun by Ken Mehlman and Howard Dean.