Bush

I just read the State of the Union. I don't think I could have watched it. While reading, if it tangents into something that is just so much drivel you can just scan down to the next paragraph. I wish I would have thought of that years ago when we were listening to him talk about the scourge of anabolic steroids, or to how he was charging NASA with sending men to Mars.

Ah, the good old days.

Want to read it yourself? You can get it here at: Think Progress.

All in all theres some not too bad initiatives in there mixed in with all the normal Bush/Conservative/Republican/Righty/Religious/Neocon drivel. The deduction for health care sounds like a nice idea. What really struck me though was how little there was that was targeted to be happening in the next two years: eliminate the deficit in 8 years, cut fossil fuels in 10 years. If you lay out initiatives that complete 8 years after you've been in office - well, if that's the case I could do the State of the Union. It would have just about as much reality to it that way.

Nice to see "clean coal" mentioned again. Didn't these people watch The West Wing? President Bartlett told us a long time ago that that particular phrase was a triumph of marketing over substance.

If nothing else, I guess we can take heart that the number of George W Bush State of the Union speeches in front of us is considerably lower than the number we've already seen. All by itself that suggests to me that the state of the union is on an upswing. And these days, well, we have to make what we can with what we have.