QotD: State of the Union
Posted February 3rd, 2005 @ 06:02am by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: What was your reaction to the State of the Union last night?
My Answer: I didn't watch it (and was kind of bummed that West Wing wasn't on), but the reaction seems to be quite good so far. Of course, most of the blogs I subscribe to that occasionally venture into politics are folks like me, and probably voted for Bush, though I do have a few Demo-centric political blogs in my list. Reaction from them seems unexpectedly "better."
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Posted 03 Feb 2005 at 10:58am #
Josh points to this article.
Posted 03 Feb 2005 at 1:36pm #
I think all any Democrat hopes for is that Bush acts more moderate, and moderately, seeing that he doesn't have to run for re-election again.
I missed it too. A transcript is here
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/28/sotu.transcript/
Posted 03 Feb 2005 at 1:51pm #
I watched bits and pieces of it. Overall it just seemed like a regular Bush speech - nothing really new.
What I'm brought to laugh about every year though is that amount of clapping that goes on in the speech. They clap after every point! They give a standing ovation if he says someting obvious! They will even clap mid-sentence!
I swear the speech would be a quarter of it's length if those Senators could just hold their damn applause.
Posted 03 Feb 2005 at 2:02pm #
I watched most of it, and listened to the rest. One thing that I noticed is that there were no major stumbling over words incidents. Bush seems a lot more relaxed, but really, he's seemed a lot more relaxed since the end of the election. While I was discouraged by the promise to continue to pursue the "Defense of Marriage Act" (I tend to think addending the constitution for such a thing is overkill, and that individual states could handle addressing local needs just fine), I think he did a remarkably good job of spelling out with more clarity and detail the goals of the WoT and intended policy towards Iran.
I'll also add that I, too, found the incessent clapping after each point a waste of time, and just plain silly. Wait til the end, Senators. It isn't a pep rally, it's a State of the Union address...
Posted 03 Feb 2005 at 10:42pm #
Didn't watch it, can't stand those things. I can't see how the President can handle waiting for them to finish clapping three times in each sentence .. it would drive me nuts!
I think the Social Security privatization thing is silly, as a great majority of Americans have no clue how to invest money, and those who do generally have 401(k) or 403(b) or similar plans anyway. Plus it only puts the program into worse shape financially, as it would reduce payroll contributions into the Social Security trust fund (as money would be diverted to private accounts) thus leaving no way to pay for benefits to those who will be retiring in the decade to come.
Posted 05 Feb 2005 at 11:07pm #
On the Social Security privatization topic, there's one thing I don't understand -- the idea seems to assume you're able to work all your life and sock money away, but how does it handle people who aren't capable of that? True, the majority of people in this country are fortunate enough to be able to work a job, but there are still thousands of people who are physically or mentally disabled and don't have this privilege. (Yes, being able to work is a privilege, although not often thought of as one until that privilege is taken away....) Anyway, just asking since I have no idea.