My quick reactions to Bush's SOTU

1. I thought the first half of the speech was very effective. Bush does a great job of setting up the "War on Terror" as a struggle to the death between good and evil. I don't know if al Qaeda quite rises to that level in actuality, but it's pretty easy to FEEL that way after 9/11

   Frankly, it's not a framework that Democrats have EVER responded to well. By and large, we just don't feel like 9/11 started a gigantic struggle for the soul of humanity. This kind of sober attitude might be smart and prudent, but it's tough to compete with good guys vs. bad guys on an emotional level.

2. The lines about reducing our dependence on foreign oil were interesting. For a Texas oilman to say them is something of a Nixon-in-China moment. The bloggers today discovered that Bush's claim wasn't quite as grand as it sounded on TV, but I still think it matters.

   You've got a right-wing President saying the words that every liberal wacko wanted to hear. Isn't it pretty obvious now that we've got some sort of broad consensus that we need to reign in our energy policy? Can't we get to work on maybe fixing that now? Are we completely incapable of turning broad agreement into good policy?

3. "Human-animal Hybrids" Huzzah....wha?

   Most liberals thought this was just crazy. Internet joksters have already created a novelty t-shirt. But this kind of rhetoric is very, very dangerous.

   Remember, Bush's full quote is this:

   Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms; creating or implanting embryos for experiments; creating human-animal hybrids; and buying, selling or patenting human embryos.

   ...and it's very, very clever. All anybody hears is "let's ban human-animal hybrids" and they're instantly for it. But by endorsing Bush's plan, they also sign on to ban all sorts of other medical research including therapeutic cloning and, I believe, some sorts of stem cell research.

   I really don't know enough about those issues to say they're a good idea one way or another, but I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be banned out of hand by a public that thinks they're opposing sci-fi chimeras that don't actually exist.

4. Finally, I thought Bush's economic plan was hysterical. Near as I could tell it goes something like this:
   • Cut taxes.
   • Cut spending.
   • The way we're going to do all that is by enacting these 17 brand new government programs.

   Comedy.