January 21, 2004

THE STATE OF THE UNION:

THE STATE OF THE UNION: NOT SO STRONG: Now perhaps it was because I watched it with Bush-hating friends on the Upper West Side who heckled and booed non-stop, but I was considerably less impressed by this year's Bush State of the Union address than the previous two. Bush's speeches in the post-9/11 period were notably stronger than this, but I've noticed a dropoff since, sort of like when you can tell the writing on a sitcom is starting to slip.
As usual, I had no problem with the terrorism/national security parts, and found nothing to argue with therein. But the president this year went way off the rails in terms of social policy- the abstinence-only and anti-gay marriage stuff? Childrens' drug testing? Vague warnings about "the dangers of 'the culture'"? The nonsensical plea for sports owners to get rid of steroids, which are already illegal anyway? Did Bush have anything to say on the subject a decade ago, when he himself was a sports owner?
At least he kept it short, delivering the first sub-one-hour SOTU in recent memory. But the address was weak enough to make me look more closely at the Democratic side, now that Howard Dean may very well not be the nominee. Which makes sense, considering that I am still a registered Democrat.

Posted by Stephen Silver at January 21, 2004 12:26 AM
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