The SOTU blog

My thoughts as they flowed during the State of the Union address....I didn't start typing until about 9:20, though.

9:00 We see the Supreme Court justices, Cabinet and Joint Chiefs of Staff entering. Everyone looks so friendly and happy! Oh and there's Barack, with Hillary seated right behind him. Madame Speaker! Cool and it's about time. Georgie just told Nancy to get the party started. I wonder if she forget she's supposed to bang the gavel. Interesting -- POTUS didn't start by saying "the state of our union is strong." But he did point out rising wages, low unemployment, 41 months of growth.

9:20 McCain looks old. Another Barack/Hilary shot.

9:21 Is Ted Kennedy drunk or asleep? Ok, so eliminating earmarks is a priority.

9:22 No Child Left Behind ... my ass. Education is the next priority.

9:23 And now he brings out health care..was that a snicker on his face? Is Cheney's tie really iridescent purple? That's awesome.

9:24 Barack is sleeping. Doesn't he know he's splitting camera time with POTUS and She-ra? Hillary's lips are taut.

9:25 Yay Lieberman! You deserved to win.

9:26 How come Michael Levitt gets a screen title and the highest ranking Asian woman in the country doesn't? NBC, you disappoint me.

9:27 Medical liability. Only the Repubs liked that one. Oh, there's John Kerry. Poor guy -- he still wants to run for prez.

9:28 Temporary work visas is now the topic of the hour. C'mon, where's the Dem applause? Another McCain shot. Another Barack/ Hilary shot, new angle though. Good job, NBC. I was getting bored with the closeup.

9:29 Comprehensive immigration reform -- and the crowd goes wiiiiiled!

9:30 Now we need to diversify the energy supply. Did anyone else see the new Ford Edge hydrogen fuel cell car? Too bad it cost them $2 million for the prototype. Hee -- POTUS just said "veeHICKuls"

9:31 Energy reform. Looks like that's another bridging topic. Cheney is either chewing on the stuff stuck in his teeth or he's choking down a smirk about energy reform.

9:33 whoa Prez and VP just took a coordinated drink together. weird.

9:34 oh, Dems don't like what he just said about fast Senate approvals of his Justice appointees. First mention of "terra-ists" so far.

9:36 A shot of the Senator from Maine. Not sure why she's important.

9:37 I find it sad that men can only wear brown, black or navy blue suits. The women get to have all the colors.

9:38 "totalitarian ideology" ... that was a lot of syllables in two words for him

9:39 oh geez. what happened to that man's EYE?! Oh, he must have gotten whacked by the zoom lens of the paparazzi next to him. Another Barack/Hillary shot

9:40 Condi shot. omg, she looks SO MEAN. Is that her default face?

9:44 I don't really ahve words for this long discourse on the mess in the Middle East. Its just sobering.

9:45 The new Iraq strategy is being revealed -- it's the SURGE! I just want him to use that word once. Just once. Pleeeeease?

9:46 Peter Pace shot. I kinda want to touch his uniform. It has lots of colors.

9:47 He says this is the best chance for sucess. For the sake of the troops, for our sake, for the sake of the Iraqis, I hope he's right.

9:49 Joe Biden makes his first appearance on NBC cams. Nothing is more important for this country than securing Iraq. Problem is, that's true. But Pelosi didn't stand for those comments. Interesting.

9:50 Whoa -- did he just acknowledge that we were once united and now we're not? He's asking for a chance to prove that the SURGE! is a good idea.

9:51 He wants to increse by 95000 troops. We have more than 1.6 million active military but still. That's not that many but still ...

9:52 A volunteer reserve military? As opposed to a draft, I suppose. Wait...what do we need them for? Oh, I don't know...how about an Iran invasion?

9:54 Now North Korea gets a mention. Boy, that dictator scares me. And Darfur gets a mention? Another Barack/Hillary shot..but Hil kinda got cut off.

9:55 AIDS in Africa. Bono would be proud. $1.2B to combat malaria in Africa. I just noticed that the Justices aren't clapping or standing. Do they get a reprieve? Lucky them. The SOTU is worse than a Catholic mass with all its stand up/sit down action.

9:56 Dikembe Mutombo!?! Sitting next to the First Lady. That is SO RANDOM. Laura is standing next him but you'd never know it. And they put an Asian woman on his other side. Way to make a tall man look even taller.

9:58 Interesting to call out a women entreprenuer, who happens to be a social entreprenuer too. Women are the fuel of this economy, I tell you.

9:59 Prez points out the Subway Hero. "You da man," is what Wesley Autrey just mouthed to POTUS. I think that might have been my favorite part so far.

10:02 The state of our union is strong! That was a pretty strong finish from the Prez, especially since the rest of the speech was a little...somber. Not nearly as exuberant as I remember last year's address being. But POTUS got 62 applause interruptions and chuckles for his one and only SOTU joke about C-SPAN.