Last night our president delivered his first official state of the union address: he was brilliant. Years from now speech instructors will be playing tapes of his speeches for their students; in fact; it’s probably happening already on many college campuses. Years from now books will be written compiling many of his speeches; some given even before he became one of the most historic of all our presidents. From here on in Barack Obama will be the standard by which great speakers are measured. He is undoubtedly one of the best public speakers ever (especially from a prepared script).

A funny thing happened on the way to the presidency though that bears noting. It was when he appeared before the congressional black caucus (at his request) to inform them that he was contemplating a run for the presidency. A significant number of black electeds thought the idea laughable. This is a fact. More than a few of them actually laughed at him and his idea. I mean that literally. Many others scoffed and others still were quite dismissive. They all know who they are.  read more »

I was at the Drinking Liberally/DL21C/DFNYC party for the SOTU speech. Much as I agree with Paul's assessment of Bush's banality, there is one glaring fact I haven't seen anyone comment on.

As with his "Iraqi surge speech", there's nothing new here. Usually by the last two years, a President is looking to create something for his legacy, which means a new initiative that usually goes nowhere, but at least sounds good in a SOTU speech. Nope, no initiative.

Instead, he's giving us the same ol' garbage, repackaged in new rhetoric. For example, last year he said, "America is addicted to oil." This year, it's "the serious challenge of global climate change." But there is still no plan to deal with it.

Or education -- all he wants is an extension of the miserable failure of a "No Child Left Behind" act.

Taxes? Please!

Health insurance? More privatization, combined with tax deductions only rich people can use. Poor people -- the ones without coverage --  read more »

Just got back from a nice little SOTU party in Manhattan - I was planning to go to one of the shindigs sponsored by the various New York grassroots progressive groups, but ended up heading to a friend's party instead.

So, unfiltered by media reaction, and thus probably totally "wrong" - my own initial thoughts:

It was boring. Bush, who has turned the notion of being a "war president" into a fetish, opened with a tedious - if technically relevant - discourse on domestic economic issues. Within the opening minutes he was talking about earmarks. That'll definitely keep them from switching over to "Best Week Ever."

Nonetheless, Bush presented himself well. He seemed subdued, far less awkward or arrogant than usual. One of the few times I've watched him and not had the distinct impression that somebody quite stupid was actually condescending to me. So props for that.

His health care proposal was a definite wedge. Conservatives seem to be deserting him in droves, but they may be interested in his crappy little health plan. He mentioned "private insurance" more times than I could count. There's no question that his health proposal was designed not for the purpose of getting more people insured, but primarily to reinforce the idea that private insurance is the way forward in health care.

His global warming bit was less than I expected. I mean, it's revolutionary that he even used the term "global warming." So maybe the Kremlinologists can read something into that. I was expecting some discussion of emissions limits. Even many conservatives were. Did I miss that? I didn't hear it.

Jim Webb ate Bush's liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. I mean, I haven't heard a Democratic response so invigorating since the Bush era began. Sure, Webb came across a little stiff. But his words were fierce. And his conclusion was devastating. Webb ate Bush for lunch.

Now I can read other reactions and see how many people totally didn't see it how I did...

Update: Bush did talk about alternative energy, which I suppose is related to global warming. It's a wood-chips-based future! Anyway, it was mostly a sop to the ethanol lobby. You saw how slobberingly happy Chuck Grassley (R-Where the Tall Corn Grows) looked.

(Cross-posted at alien & sedition)