Yes, I voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and have no regrets of doing so. Yes, I think Bush’s tax cuts have been sorely needed to get our economy going again. Yes, I think that Saddam Hussein was an evil man whose regime needed to be ended.
Those being said, I didn’t watch the State of the Union address last night.
Perhaps I should have, just for the sake of blogging about it. In some ways I regret not having done so.
Whether it’s a president I loved (Ronald Reagan) or one I didn’t (Bill Clinton), I’ve never been able to watch. The speech preparation begins weeks—if not months—ahead of time and is tested out. It has one of three purposes: Why you were right to elect me, Why you should reelect me and Why American historians will write favorably of me. By and large, I find it too self-serving. The speech, as have been the other speeches, was stopped many times for applause (mostly from fellow Republicans).
Ultimately, the speech matters little. There will always be those who thought it was brilliant, those who thought it was terrible, those who thought it was good but not great, those who thought it was bad but not terrible, and so on.
President Bush, arguably one of the most ineloquent speakers in recent presidential history, can relax: this was his final SOTU address.
I did find it amusing to read that although Democratic presidential nominee contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton sat within feet of each of other, neither acknowledged the other. A photo shows Senator Ted Kennedy (who endorsed Obama over Hillary despite Bill Clinton’s pleas) sitting next to the author of The Audacity of Hope. After the speech, Bush greeted Obama but not Hillary.
Those being said, I didn’t watch the State of the Union address last night.
Perhaps I should have, just for the sake of blogging about it. In some ways I regret not having done so.
Whether it’s a president I loved (Ronald Reagan) or one I didn’t (Bill Clinton), I’ve never been able to watch. The speech preparation begins weeks—if not months—ahead of time and is tested out. It has one of three purposes: Why you were right to elect me, Why you should reelect me and Why American historians will write favorably of me. By and large, I find it too self-serving. The speech, as have been the other speeches, was stopped many times for applause (mostly from fellow Republicans).
Ultimately, the speech matters little. There will always be those who thought it was brilliant, those who thought it was terrible, those who thought it was good but not great, those who thought it was bad but not terrible, and so on.
President Bush, arguably one of the most ineloquent speakers in recent presidential history, can relax: this was his final SOTU address.
I did find it amusing to read that although Democratic presidential nominee contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton sat within feet of each of other, neither acknowledged the other. A photo shows Senator Ted Kennedy (who endorsed Obama over Hillary despite Bill Clinton’s pleas) sitting next to the author of The Audacity of Hope. After the speech, Bush greeted Obama but not Hillary.
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