We like a confident president, but we don't like a cocky president, and George W. Bush had too many moments of cockiness last night as he delivered his third State of the Union address to both houses of Congress and the viewing nation. Often the words of the speech were written to sound lofty, but
Bush had such a big Christmas-morning grin on his face that they came out sounding like taunts -- taunts to the rest of the world or taunts to Democrats in the hall.The dividing line between the parties has rarely appeared so graphic. Republicans on one side of the House chamber couldn't scramble to their feet fast enough to give Bush his obligatory standing ovations. He probably would have gotten one if he'd sneezed. Democrats, meanwhile, sat their ground. They rose for some of Bush's sentiments, as when praising America's military forces, but they weren't on their feet when Bush called for making last year's tax cuts permanent.
And the split was even more dramatic when Bush called for renewing his controversial Patriot Act, a piece of emergency legislation that has had the effect of trampling civil rights into mush. In fact, Bush got applause he didn't want when he introduced the subject by saying certain provisions of the Patriot Act would end next year. Yes, some people, presumably Democrats, heartily applauded that.
The speech was pretty much so-so, and
Bush's gung-ho delivery -- something approaching the forced jollity of a game show host -- lacked dignity and certainly lacked graciousness. Bush has never been big on those things anyway.
(snip)
…And so Bush had, among others in the audience, representatives of U.S. troops plus Adnan Pachachi, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, who got that prime gallery seat right next to
Laura Bush, who was looking slightly hypnotized as usual.more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33872-2004Jan21.html
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