Thanks Mr.Obvious

I watched the State of the Union address Tuesday night. I'm not sure why.\nI knew it would unfold as it did. The spectacle of our parliament of whores and their superfluous annual clapfest is tiring. I doubt I am the only one who thinks it's excessive that nearly a third of the speech's time is occupied by interjected applause (I proposed a drinking game in which you take a shot every time the audience erupts in applause, but all the Big Reds in Bloomington don't have enough liquor to support such a game.). How about those trite references to "ordinary Americans" as tales of, well, whatever purpose they fit? And is anyone else bothered by the protracted walk reeking of royalty that the president always takes to his podium? Or ... whatever, let's move on to the actual speech.\nWith a few notable oases, the speech was mostly a desert of vague platitudes about why the state of our union is "strong" and that "together we will make it stronger." \nHe made an implicit reference to Iraq in needing to "end tyranny in our world," proceeding to name drop Sept. 11 and WMD within the next few seconds. \nCongrats to Bush for making the Saddam-9-11 connection as subtle as possible; I could hardly tell it was there this time.\nAfter explaining that Iran is bad because of its "nook-yoo-ler" ambitions, he moved on to declare illegal wiretaps "essential to the security of America," and he will continue the illegal program because "we will not sit back and wait to be hit again." Well, gee, who could possibly oppose wiretaps now that the national security straw man has been so thoroughly devastated? \nBush also shocked the nation by revealing a headline that will reverberate for the ages as a demonstration of unfettered bravery and perspicacity. Are you ready for it? The United States is ... "addicted to oil." Who knew?! As Andrew Sullivan writes, "But after five years of being the oil-president, he needs to add a lot more substance to back up the counter-intuitive headline." Recall that Bush proposed a $1.7 billion initiative for hydrogen-fueled cars in his 2003 SOTU address.\n Whatever happened to that? Innovative energy technology is the only answer to curtail our consumption, and I'm glad to hear support for initiative in that regard, but it comes a bit late and its sincerity is dubious, don't ya think?\nLastly, I must reiterate how much we support freedom. Bush used that word 16 times during the speech (and "liberty" an additional four.). I would bet that the United States also supports happiness, sunshine and puppies.\nThe Democratic response was, predictably, worthless.\nCindy Sheehan was supposed to be present at Bush's speech as an invited guest of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif. Instead, she was arrested before entering the event because she wore a T-shirt that bore anti-Bush slogans and refused to cover it up. Sheehan was held at Capitol Police headquarters for the duration of the address.\nShe was probably better off staring at a gray jailhouse wall, anyway.