My overall reaction to the speech is- BLAH.
Some red meat in there for the hardliners and partisans:
“Yet there is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success, and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure. Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second guessing is not a strategy.”
But the rest of the speech- blah. This made me snort:
“Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem. America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.
The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources. And we are on the threshold of incredible advances. So tonight, I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative, a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy to push for breakthroughs in two vital areas. To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants, revolutionary solar and wind technologies and clean, safe nuclear energy.”
I can’t be the only one who just doesn’t believe Bush is serious about oil independence, and, even if he were, I don’t trust this crew to get it right. A couple months from now we will probably find out the Advanced Energy Initiative is a series of tax cuts to energy providers and a proposal to drill in ANWR.
Others to my right think he blew it on immigration.
The Vodkapundit:
It could have been worse.
Heh.
Another less jaded review here from James Joyner.
My corporate masters have a link rich round-up of reactions here.
Steve
The talking heads kept pointing out that Bush has mentioned energy independence in every SOTU since he took office, and yet, here we are.
Let’s not forget this old gem:
norbizness
“Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources.” That’s funny. That sounds like ExxonMobil’s profit in the last three months. It’s like attacking Optimus Prime with a ping-pong ball-shooter.
Say, whatever happened to our very own Mission to Mars and the anti-gang initiative headed up by ex-banger Laura Bush?
Ancient Purple
Just an interesting factoid I heard on the radio coverage of the speech last night. In 1970, Nixon gave a SOTU in which he said that America needed to break its dependence on foreign oil. At the time, America was getting 32% of its oil from overseas.
Today, that number is 66%.
36 years of breaking our dependence on foreign oil.
Eeesh.
Otto Man
What happened to all the pre-speech hype about health savings accounts and immigration reform? Did Bush decide not even to go through the motions?
Whatever. I’m looking forward to hearing more about these “human-animal hybrids,” seen here in an artists’ rendering.
norbizness
That’s a powerful reminder, Otto Man. For every resounding success (Cheetara), there is a abomination (Snarf or John Podhoretz).
Sirkowski
Refusing to acknowledge anything but failure in someone who has a history of failures is called realism. But don’t tell anyone.
Walker
I am just waiting to see whether he makes good on his science promises. Getting NSF grants these days is near impossible because their funding has been eviscerated. They had to make a new category above excellent in the review process because no one could get anything.
But given this administration, I expect to see that money funnelled to corporate research instead of the NSF. You only have to look at the research in the scientific journals to see how well that works.
Jill
The energy bill Bush and Cheney so severely pushed through congress does nothing to end our dependence on oil. They could have increased CAFE standards but they wanted no part of real oil reform. What we have here is the ironic pResident.
DougJ
You think that taking on the powerful human-animal hybrid lobby is blah? You think Clinton would have had the guts to do that? Gimme somma whateva you bin smokin.
Emma Zahn
So, isn’t he saying that he was wrong?
There were people with foresight who recognized this slow motion disaster was likely to happen. Is anyone paying any more attention to them now?
Continuing to shout down anyone who questions current strategy or suggests a different course as a traitor isn’t answering criticism — they are avoiding it.
…
Otto Man
True. Is the Pod wearing a sweater in that picture?
tzs
The FT this morning in its coverage of the speech put the greatest emphasis on the “let’s not let ourselves fall behind China and India in science and technology.” Wishful thinking that something is actually going to be done?
Speaking as someone whose job is selling very expensive pieces of lab equipment to universities, I’m not holding my breath. A lot of yap, a lot of grandious statements, and then surprise, I doubt that the NSF will ever get to handle that money without tons of earmarks plastered all over it shoving it to mediocre projects located in red states.
And speaking as someone with a doctorate in physics, I’m not much impressed with his comments about the teachers, either. You have an administration that continually shows its disdain for intellectuals, pushes ID, froths at the mouth about “liberal scientists”, ignores information provided by gov’t scientists from everywhere from environmental protection to lead toxicity, tries to muff scientists from speaking out on their own fields….
And I’m supposed to trust this guy and think that the US will return to being a place scientists want to work in?!
There is nothing I have seen of Mr. Bush’s life that makes me believe he understands the basic philosophy behind science:
1) There is truth out there, and it doesn’t give a damn about PR statements.
2) Don’t lie to youself. Don’t falsify data. And make sure your results can be replicated by independent observers.
3) Just because you want to believe it doesn’t mean it’s true. Be your own harshest critic. Unless you are willing to throw out your own theory when confronted with conflicting data, you’re nothing more than someone playing at being a scientist.
4) 90% of the time you will be chasing up blind alleys. Deal with it.
Walker
This is not just true for projects “located in red states”. There will be quite a few mediocre projects run by corporations in blue states that would love to do an end-run around the NSF review process.
chefrad
What did Marxists once say about Capitalism:
“Pie in the sky, bye and bye.”
The same goes for Bush’s energy policy. And his mission to Mars.
chefrad
What did Marxists once say about Capitalism:
“Pie in the sky, bye and bye.”
The same goes for Bush’s energy policy. And his mission to Mars.
DougJ
Write this down. M-A-R-S. That’s right! Mars, bitches! Red rocks.
Zifnab
Is this par for the course or specifically the Bush administration?
skip
Bush compresses more words into less meaning than any President in human memory. He makes his comatose brother chipmunk in Florida sound like Pericles the Great.
Buck
If this country ever decides to go the Ethanol route may God have mercy on the citizens of Brazil. They will need to start fortifying their bunkers immediately.
searp
The speech was so dumb it was offensive. Al Qaeda taking over Iraq? Jesus, Iraq is majority Shia, and they HATE AL QAEDA. Appropriate criticism? I expect to hear something like that from Vladimir Putin, not the president of the United States. Democracy cures everything? Doesn’t he read the newspapers? Nukes are popular. If they had a vote today on whether or not to keep nukes, is there any real question about the outcome.
I can’t imagine this even helped him within his party.
Best moment: when all the Dems cheered his observation that Congress hadn’t passed his Social Security “reform”.
Bob In Pacifica
Will anyone ask Scotty McClellan about what exactly Bush was talking about with “human-animal hybrids”? Is he talking about, say, gene therapies involving sheep DNA that may be able to cure diabetes, or is he alerting us to the potential dangers of green guys with gills who might someday invade our nation from out of the seas? I’ll personally join him against the latter.
My guess is that it’s another shiny shard of the broken body politic tossed into the crowd of hyperventilating Biblical literalists to appease their fears of reality circa 2006.
tzs
As someone pointed out, doesn’t Cheney already have some animal-derived stuff in him already from heart surgery? So he’s technically a “chimera” as well….
Paul Wartenberg
I’m disappointed that the Leader of the Free World didn’t take a moment to offer prayers to the late lamented cyclops kitty. :sniff: :wail:
Don Surber
I agree with John. An hour wasted
Mr Furious
I’ll forego the link and just paste my SOTU thoughts in here…
I have the SOTU on in the background as I do some freelance work. I wasn’t planning on watching, since it would likely piss me off, but I’ll pay half attention and throw some thoughts down as we go…
It’s been on for a while when I tune in, Bush is now talking about social security. He gets a decent joke in about his dad’s two favorite people—him and Clinton. But the Dems get the last laugh with a raucous ovation when Bush scolds Congress for “failing to join him in saving social security.” Oops.
Boilerplate about “nobody out-competing/producing the American worker”…
Bush breezes through his health care stuff and tosses out simple talking points that sound good at a glance; portability of health plans (good) and ability to buy individual plans at group rates (already exists for many—at least in Michigan). Really he barely gets into this, and hardly even mentions HSAs by name. Hardly a centerpiece, barely a mention. And only those in the know realize Bush is essentially throwing you to the wolves with his plan. Probably why he barely gets into it. For him, the less said, the better.
He’s smoother than usual, but extra smirky.
Some crap about medical malpractice. And passing reform.
Declares that America is addicted to oil. My wife mentioned that he’d say that. His energy plan talks a good game, but I know better than to trust him. His boast “over the last five years, America has invested over $10 Billion on alternative forms of energy” is less money than Exxon’s profits last quarter. He hypes new types of ethanol (promising), and zero-emission coal plants (a fantasy?).
He’s filled with “I will propose…” followed by “doubling” or some massive increase or another of “spending” or “investing” throughout the speech. We all know none of this stuff will ever actually be appropriated or funded. Yawn.
Some stuff about immigration. They show Homeland Security honcho Chertoff clapping like he’s the Swedish chef from ‘The Muppet Show.’ Are those his arms? Yikes.
Abortion at lowest level in decades. A lie? Does he mean for the duration of this speech?
Teenage moms down for twelve years? Sharing credit with Clinton?
“Activist courts redefine marriage…”
Reference to the “pessimists”
Thanks to O’Connor—she’s not in attendance…
Human/animal hybrids? Is that on anybody’s radar? What the fuck? I guess Dr. Moreau is the new Osama.
Ethics reform. Wasn’t sure he’d go here.
Talking about Katrina reconstruction when the TiVo wants to change to record “The Closer” for my wife. I let it.
Whatever. From what I saw, I’d say it was a good performance by Bush with fairly empty material. I didn’t get to see any Iraq, Iran or foreign policy stuff. Did he kiss Lieberman again?