The State of the Union

I've never blogged while watching something, we'll see how this goes. The President is still giving his opening remarks and all I can think about is, "man he's going grey!" He's giving a great intro, stirring and all that, but all I can focus on is his hair. The Presidency ages these poor guys. I wonder if it would do the same thing for a woman? Hey- let's find out. Just not with any of the women who have been up for the job so far.

Frustrated? Angry? Hell yeah! Tired of the partisanship and yelling? Hell yeah! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss political apathy! Strained but hopeful? Actually, yeah. My husband the truck driver is barely employed in a company on the verge of going out of business and all he can think about is wanting to go to culinary school. I'm unemployed and writing a book. My brother is unemployed and he and his friends are filming their own independent movie (with a zero budget). My cousin wants to go to art school. Something about this recession has really awoken the creative bug in my family.

Yes, I hated the bank bailout too, but I agree that it was necessary (dammit). Interesting that he's putting it on the Bush administration but mentioning that his administration made it more transparent, etc. Put a fee on the banks and they'll pass it on to us. Gee, thanks. Here's an idea- find a credit union. Get a different credit card. Take yourself out of the line of fire, because you know that's coming.

You cut taxes... unless you're a smoker.

Great, he brought up the Recovery Act. Fox News is going to have a field day with these comments! Calling for a new jobs bill? And what will that do? And how long will it be? And what the heck happened to health care reform being number one? Oh wait, that boondoggle is going to have to wait. They never should have gone for comprehensive reform but done it in little bites instead. $30 billion to go to small banks for small business loans? Heck yeah! Tax credits and tax incentives for businesses for them to actually do something constructive? Sounds good to me. And taking tax breaks away from companies that ship jobs overseas? Hell to the yeah!

I keep hearing about this infrastructure thing. I want something concrete already! Hey- I know about that Tampa high speed rail. This is the one we voted for years ago and then were talked out of building by conservatives and fuzzy accounting. I was so ticked off when that happened. I'm glad the plan didn't go away completely. I would love to be able to go to Busch Gardens without having to drive all that way in I-4 traffic.

Obama is unlike other politicians, he does think long term. I can appreciate that. So much in politics is reactive, and then looking back on decisions they seem so bad but at the time they seem to be "the only choice" because we only look at the short term. We needed a long term thinker, and it looks like we have one.

I'm interested in punishing banks. Where can I sign up? (j/k!)

He wants more nuclear power plants? Seriously? Yeah, not such a fan of that one. Unless he's figured out how to do fusion. And we don't need more flipping offshore oil or so-called "clean coal". I like my mountains where they are, not sheared off thank you very much. Interesting remark on climate change, "I know there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change"- and interesting response. He's right though, even if climate change isn't real it's still not an excuse to pollute our air and water when we have the capability to stop.

Increasing exports sounds good, as does the education stuff. I can't agree, though, with the "only rewarding success" part. There is too much to overcome there. He's not taking the parents into account, and they have too great of an influence to think that just improving schools is going to fix everything. I LOVE the idea of the student loan forgiveness and only paying 10% of your income for student loan payments.

Hey, Biden looks good- he's not talking.

I'm not sure how all of these tax credits and incentives and all of that will work with housing. Ah-ha- here comes the health insurance reform stuff. Hee- "Now, let's clear a few things up..." He's handling this well. Oh, he's bringing up the possibility of a public option. Let's see that play out. And Michelle's tackling childhood obesity. Sounds good, and much needed. His claim about bringing down the deficit is definitely going to give the pundits fodder.

"I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber." Good for you, thank you for not giving up. My uninsurable self appreciates that. Nice challenge- if you have a better idea, bring it! Let's see what the party of No has to say on that one. Lots of stand up sit down on that one.

He's doing a lot of "let me set the record straight". Hee- this is going to get the talking heads bobbing too. It will be interesting to see how this 2011-2014 budget will work. Anyone else flash on that Kevin Kline movie (Dave?) where he plays the president and went through all of that paperwork for the budget? Shoot, and he's got to get this in now somehow before the 2010 elections. I like that he's addressing the conservative concerns and shooting them down. He's right- all of the stuff they want to do didn't work in the past, so why would it work now?

"Let's try common sense! A novel concept." Yeah, especially in the room you're in!

I wondered if he would mention the Supreme Court's latest decision. I have NO idea where they came up with the justification for that one. Could not believe that, and the fact that both Dems and Reps condemned it makes me really wonder what happened.

Wait- publishing earmark requests online? Wait, are those actually Republicans standing up and clapping at that one?

And on that amazing note I'm going to end this. I have to put my foot up before it swells too much and this blog is really long, with almost an hour left to go.

Thanks for letting me ramble tonight!