State of the Union

I thought he started great, came out swinging, stayed very strong until he got to the laundry list midway through the domestic segment. From then on it was lame, and closed pretty weakly.
But the dominant impression I came away with is how formidable the President’s chief themes will be in the upcoming re-election campaign. I would not want to be running against Bush as an anti-war candidate, or as a quibbling, waffling, criticize-everything-the-President-does but afraid to actually oppose the war candidate. Strength and sincerity: it’s a good combination.
What Bush mostly needs to do is get the word out on jobs and the economy. He has $100 million to do it with between now and the conventions.