Sooo... state of the union was last night. This is my opinion-- nothing more, nothing less. Here's what I thought:

First of all, I thought it was a pretty good speech for him. Didn't talk about anything controversial, played up the issues that are his strengths. I thought it was a little too long, and he didn't pace the amount of time he spent on the issues well. I also thought it was way long on rhetoric and way short on anything substantive.

The first half hour on Iraq was useless I thought. He didn't say anything new, didn't give any answers-- just made a lot of rousing comments and made us feel very proud to be big bad America. Exit strategy? Weapons of mass destruction? Osama??

And then the domestic part. Oh goodness. It's really good that in five years we'll have halved the deficit. Which, by the way, is something like 500 billion. Call me crazy, but isn't a balanced budget/surplus a better thing than a 500 billion dollar deficit? Also, I think the Patriot Act, in the way that is has been executed, is scary. I think tax cuts should be repealed. Oh, and I think that abstinence only programs are a good idea but let's be real here folks-- kids are gonna have sex. They should learn about abstinence, and the consequences of sex, but to assume that that's enough, and not provide other protection from STD's and pregnancy, is irresponsible.

I don't know enough about the medicare/prescription drug plan to comment on it, but I thought Ted Kennedy's facial expressions were priceless. I thought the education plan sounded good-- but dude, how you gonna pay for it? It's all about money, and right now, too many people don't have enough of it. Rich are getting richer, poor are getting poorer, and that's a fact.

But my number one irritation with the speech was his whole tangent on steroid use and professional athletes. Great sentiment-- athletes, be examples, don't use steroids. But in the State of the Union? When you only spend five minutes on the economy, two minutes on education, and none on crime, you should not be devoting any time to professional athletes and steroid use. COME ON.

Hey, but I gotta say, Bush's public speaking has become so much better. He actually looks comfortable up there now. It still bothers me that when he speaks, he always gets this smirk on his face that just makes him seem so smug. Drives me nuts.

As for the democratic response, I thought Pelosi's response was pretty good. I'm a little biased-- I think she rocks. She had good points on the war, America's reasons for entering, building international coalitions and sharing the burden. But dude-- she needed to move her facial muscles and blink more. Daschle's response was pretty bland. Go dems.

Honestly, I don't know if the dems have it in them to beat Bush next fall. We'll just have to see. I just hope that we can steer away from this course of being a country that disregards the rights and opinions of its citizens, rewards the rich and marginalizes the poor even further, and thumbs its nose at our role in an international community. Which is what I think is happening now more than ever. Please please please please please let's not re-elect Bush.

So as you can see, I'm not a huge fan of Bush. Or his policies. But hey, that's just my opinion, and I have a right to it. This is Hannahs Brain Online after all. What can I say? I'm a Bay Area super liberal Christian Asian-American woman. Proud of it!

Coming soon: Hannah's opinion on the Democratic candidates for president, and then... my official endorsement. DUM DUM DUUUUMMMMM.