Yes, much like 75% of the Americans, I am going to give Bush a positive rating.
The speech was impressive, meaningful, optimistic, mostly non-ideological & practical - and what I am completely amazed by is the method how he reads the text. Why? It certainly looks like he has memorized the whole speech. Do you understand how he does it? Is the text projected on all the walls?
Thanks to Robert for having shown me a good photograph that clarifies everything.
Some topics:
- Spreading freedom & successes in Iraq
- For people in Iran: we love you & are looking forward to freedom and democracy in your country
- For Hamas: you must accept Israel and disarm
- Patriot Act & tax cuts should be renewed
- Social security overhaul was defeated (the democratic wing applauded)
- A bipartisan committee will be dedicated to this issue
- Affordable healthcare is important
- Health insurance will become easy to switch when you change your job
- Electronic gadgets will verify the medical operations to prevent errors
- In 6 years, the alternative energy sources & fuels will become practical
- By 2025, oil addiction and dependence on Middle East will decrease by 75%
- Education of math and sciences is gonna improve
- Competitiveness Act is in construction
- The funding of the most intelligent researchers, namely those in physical sciences, is going to grow (or double?)
- Comments about Martin Luther King's wife & thanks to Sandra O'Connor
- Improving security & decrease of drug addicts in the last 12 years
- Immigration is useful for the economy but borders must become safe
- The economy is strong, recently created 4+ million jobs
- No one else can compete with the U.S. but America can't be satisfied
- No one has the right to humiliate the production of our Creator, e.g. clone people or sell human embryos (controversial anti-stem-cell-research comments)
The Republicans were applauding very often; but the Democrats such as Hillary were doing so, too. While talking about the Social Security, Bush made a joke about two baby boomers that his father likes - namely about himself and Bill Clinton - which was amusing for Hillary, too.
Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered his democratic response, claiming that the Bush administration's management is poor. He argued that the Virginia's management is great and proposes various bipartisan programs at higher level, too. Kaine has criticized tax cuts and the public debt. He argued that Bush does not pay the promised money to the No Child Left Behind act. He complained about the flawed intelligence leading to the war in Iraq, and about bad tools of the U.S. troops in Iraq. He describes the economy in terms of lost jobs, too high energy consumption. Although Kaine is smiling in a pleasant way and his tone is constructive and optimistic, his comments were rather negativistic, and based on some arguably irrelevant local episodes (good for him, of course).
I think that the people who say that Bush is stupid have no idea what they're talking about.
