The State of the Union address

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on February 3, 2005

You can find the transcript here. Video of it is available here.

I've got the video running in another window right now, and for the most part I think the speech is pretty good. President Bush spent a lot of time on Social Security reform. This speech was probably the best time to really get out front and address the issue. The Deomocrats' head-in-the-ground denial of any structural problem with the program looks more and more like a loser.

I've never particularly been impressed with any State of the Union speech, because by its very nature the address is seldom more than a laundry list. This one is little different. The domestic agenda is largely better read than watched or listened to (with the aforementioned exception of Social Security, and that exception is only because of the amount of time spent on the subject).

The foreign policy portion of the speech, especially as it focused on Iraq, was moving. Usually newspapers run some sort of talking-head shot of the president for the State of the Union -- this time many newspapers will be running a different, more telling image.


U.S. first lady Laura Bush (R) applauds while her guest Safia Taleb al-Souhail comforts Janet Norwood (C), whose son, Marine Corps Sergeant Byron Norwood of Pflugerville, Texas was killed during the assault on Fallujah, as the Marine was honored during U.S. President George W. Bush's State of the Union address in the House Chamber in Washington February 2, 2005. REUTERS/Larry Downing

That image says more about what President Bush has accomplished in Iraq then nearly two years of news reports.

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