State of the Union

In watching the telecast of President Bush's final address to the combined houses of Congress, a few things crossed my mind:

- It KILLS me when he says the word Nuclear. He pronounces it "Nuke-U-Ler", and we all know it's more like "Nu-Clear". A world leader having a less than firm grasp around his first language is rather discouraging...

- The speech was more of the same. I have no hard evidence, but I'm sure that many, if not all, of the statistics he presented on his behalf were manipulated to illustrate the point the was trying to make. The whole thing was loaded with hotwords (Liberty, Freedom, Terror, the obligatory 9/11 reference).

- He spent about a minute (total) on Immigration and Education, and most of it was bumping his chest about No Child Left Behind (but many schools).

I am really not going to miss seeing him speak in public ever again. His poor decisions behind the big desk aside, he's simply a horrible public speaker. He slurs his words, misreads the teleprompter and his posture is cavalier at best. With only 357 days left until someone else is sworn in, let's hope his Lame Duck-ness prevents him from digging a deeper hole for us all to climb out of. His track record indicates that when faced with a logical course of action or an illogical one, he'll choose the latter without hesitation.

*Sigh*

Super Tuesday

Not that it should really matter, but I voted for an African-American man for President yesterday.

I also saw former President Bill Clinton speak on behalf of Hillary's campaign last week.

As captivating as Clinton was in person (which made me want to vote for him, not his wife), I still have my serious doubts about Hillary. When I hear Obama speak, I can't help but feel like maybe this country isn't as messed up as it seems. Maybe we can get it right and elect someone who can make a difference in our world. This is only my second Presidential cycle (I was 3 months too young to vote in 2000), so I can't say that this on means more or that I'm most passionate about this one, simply because of the small sample size.

But I care more than I did in '04. I don't think it has anything to do with my age, but Kerry wasn't that captivating. Sure, he was the (arguably) the best candidate that year, but he didn't make me care like Obama does. If he loses to Hillary (no disrespect to Edwards, but thanks for giving it a shot), I'm going to be crushed. I'd vote for her in November, but it would be my hatred of current Republican policy guiding my vote more than belief in her ability to lead our nation.

He makes promises of change, and a new dynamic for legislation in Washington. Maybe he can do it. But what if he doesn't? If he has to give in and deal with the lobbyists, he becomes just another politician. At that worst case scenario, he and Hillary are equally interchangeable. But their respective ceilings are much higher. If she won it all and lived up to everything her supporters believe, she would probably be a good President.

I believe that if Obama did the same, he would be a great President.