I was a little bit disappointed with the speech overall. I was not expecting much and he still underperformed. His “thank you” to Mr. Bush in the beginning was not genuine… I guess he wanted that to show.
He said that we are facing a “raging storm”… referring to the grim economic situation. And then blamed it on greed and irresponsibility.
He said we will need “bold and swift” action to fix the economy and restore America. He mentioned infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, and electricity. I agree with that.
He mentioned the ideals of our forefathers and their documents and the sacrifices they made for us. Can’t go wrong with this.
He said we will “forge hard earned peace in Afghanistan”… presumably through war. He spoke strongly on the war on terror… saying that “our spirit is stronger and we will defeat you”.
He said that we are a nation of Moslem, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and nonbelievers. I guess that’s politically correct now to include the nonbelievers? I got a laugh out of that.
He said we were going to “usher in a new world peace”. Of course this is quite a tall order. This goes a little way to offset his hawkishness on Afghanistan and the war on terror.
He then said that our fate will be decided by our courage and we will need to make sacrifices. I’d like some more specifics on what sacrifices if possible.
He made a brief reference to global warming… very brief.
Of course he mentioned a little bit about an African-American in the oval office. Something to do with how far this country has come since the days of slavery. I am surprised he did not say more on this topic. In retrospect I guess I am disappointed that he did not.
I thought he made several better speeches this year. It just did not pack that much punch and the common thread that tied his speech together was not apparent. Unmemorable I would say.
Noticeably absent from his speech were some of the themes he used so much to get elected… Iraq, civil liberties, and human rights.
I was hoping he would say that he would be launching corruption probes into multiple areas… most notably Wall Street the regulation and WMD evidence fabrication. I guess maybe I shouldn’t be the proverbial stick in the mud and just forget about the past and focus on the future.