I too found the President's speech surprising and enjoyable. It's almost like he pulled the Party veil back from over his eyes, and saw our issues for what they are. Granted, he's a lame duck in a minority party now, but it's almost released him from being arrogantly partisan. And that has raised some hackles in his own party. Webb seemed to have a canned speech ready which didn't sufficiently react to the President's reaching out.

I think Pelosi is unaccustomed to being in the limelight of the SOTU Speaker's chair behind the president. It's been interesting to watch the eyes an mannerisms of both persons who've filled the chairs over the years. One of the first people I remember seeing was Tip O'Neill.

My God, I agree with Will! (This will last about as long as the Dems will be polite to Bush :-) I did enjoy it and thought it well done. And, as much as I hate to admit it, Pelosi did look great. She's a good-looking woman especially for her age. She seemed genuinely touched by the attention given her.

Annie, you are spot on regarding the last part of the speech: it's the best speech I've heard him give regarding foreign policy - specifically in its ability to link people, places, and events to the broader middle east and the fundamental importance of the middle east peace to our own safety.

Some of you don't watch FOX, but the best part of the event for me was when the FOX cameras (and I'm sure those of other networks) followed him as he walked out: The guy does a great job remembering people's names and engaging them in pretty specific items of importance to that individual. He's much better one-on-one than he appears on camera. I was also surprised by some of the liberal dems with whom he seems to have genuine affection.

Love they enemy?

I watched the Fox broadcast too Blu. I've seen similar stuff on C-Span, but this was the first time I've seen a broadcast network try to listen in like that. I bet Clinton and Reagan were similarly good with the small talk. I wonder what Nixon would have been like, I'm sure he hated that part of the job. LBJ would have been fun to listen to.

When Bush recognized Pelosi as the first female speaker, the first thing that came to mind was, "What a gracious man he is." I've thought this before, but I think this time Bush really cemented the impression in my mind. And it goes hand-in-hand with what Blu said about Bush connecting with individuals.

Oh, and "Who wants to sex Mutombo?" leapt out at me, too. Hilarious.

"I was also surprised by some of the liberal dems with whom he seems to have genuine affection."

Dude, they like him because he's helping advance their agenda while getting absolutely no credit for it from the Leftist/"moderate" public.

-He's not getting kudos from the black caucus for his African foreign aid program. Afterall, BusHitler doesn't care about black people.

-When he signs the Dems' amnesty bill, it's highly likely that 90% of these new citizens will be voting (D) in the next election cycle.

-He doesn't oppose increasing the minimum wage.

Bush was never the uber Right-wing Boogeyman that the Left and the rest of the world made him out to be.

"Oh I forgot to mention Nancy's non-stop blinking towards the end of the speech. What was up with that?"

Her botox shot was wearing out...

Oh I forgot to mention Nancy's non-stop blinking towards the end of the speech. What was up with that?

I think someone farted on the podium.

"Dude, they like him because he's helping advance their agenda while getting absolutely no credit for it from the Leftist/"moderate" public."

Maybe, R80, but I really think a lot of that is a non-political, personal connection. However, I don't know the President or these other people, so you could just as well be correct. Just my opinion based on reading body language and facial expressions.

Like you, I'm not a big fan of the President's domestic agenda.

Nancy's blinking?

It was morse code for "What do I do now?"

I thought it was one of his best speaking efforts ever. We were laughing at the blinking and at the contrast between Dick Cheney's eyes and hers. Hillary looked like a gorgon in one shot. We also wondered what was up with all the people asking for autographs. I don't remember seeing that before.

Mostly folks who will never see his signature on a bill of theirs, looking for more face time on TV to impress the yokels at home.

Check out FactCheck.org for their analysis of the President's speech.

FactCheck forgot to include the part where Bush lobbied to allow more access to domestic oil supplies at ANWAR, etc.

Our rising dependence on foreign sources can also be attributed to our Leftist pals' resistance to nuclear power construction and off-shore drilling.

Nuclear power is related to electrical generation, whereas the petroleum dependency is a liquid fuels crisis. You might suggest that nukes can be used for hydrogen generation, though the leading fuel cells require substantial amounts of platinum, global supplies of which are insufficient to replace even 25% of the US auto fleet, not even considering the prohibitive costs of exhausting such a rare and expensive metal to begin with.

Off shore drilling has been strongly opposed by Jeb Bush.

Getting over our "addiction to oil" as our President so directly puts it requires us to look to our own 'drug habit' first, before clawing our way to scoring our next fix.