Last night I watched an hour or so of clapping interspersed with a few words by the president. If the giant American flag behind George W. Bush didn't alert you that the speech was about the state of the union in the United States, then certainly the Old Glory lapel pins on the president, vice president, and speaker of the house gave you the hint. Like George W. Bush's presidency, the speech was a mixed bag. It offered a jumble of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the tacky.

The Good Straight talk on Social Security; aggressively pursuing the privatization of a modest-sized chunk of the government-mandated retirement program; support for the Iraqization of the war; pledging to end the reign of activist judges and replace them with honest readers of the Constitution; and, in a scene reminiscent of Dorothy dousing the Wicked Witch of the West with H2O, saying in Barbara Boxer's presence that "we must strive to build a culture of life."

"Without drastic reform, Social Security will go bankrupt in 2042"
-President Clinton

(thunderous applause from Democrats)

"Without drastic reform, Social Security will go bankrupt in 2042"-President Bush

"There's no crisis...we can fix this thing without privatizing"-Democrats

I think Bush is bringing this social security reform issue up so much is to keep everyones mind off the real issues like health care reform.