"State of Illusion" by Anna Quindlen

[Pacifist Patriot]

Many Americans have this sense of profound malaise. Of course, that's the ailment that dare not speak its name (and not just because it's French).

Pity the poor presidential speechwriter. Each year, as a cold gray sky lowers over the White House, the State of the Union address also looms. Once, a captive television audience could be taken for granted, but now, when cable makes it possible to eschew the pre-empted networks for reruns of "CSI," it's hard to say if there will even be warm bodies in the cheap seats at home. And there is that pesky introductory sentence, the one that traditionally goes something like this:

"My fellow Americans, the state of the Union is ... "

Confident. Strong. Stronger than ever.

Dire. Disturbing. Disastrous.

Those last three are the ones the speechwriter will never use. But at the moment they're far closer to the truth.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11077654/site/newsweek/

My apologies if this is a duplicate. I searched as best I could to try to prevent it.

[Pirate Smile]

1. Excellent column.