State of the Union —

The President gave an excellent political speech tonight, charting a clear course for the nation, uplifting without being too sentimental or leaving any scraps on the table for the left to fuss over (read poor Oliver Willis for some insight into how demoralized they are.) Bush reached out to the crossover constituencies he attracted in Texas – women, blacks, Hispanics – without alienating the base. Prescription drugs, education, respect for women, protecting the savings of working people are all issues that have strong bipartisan support, but more important, they’re issues that the Democrats need desperately to call their own if they’re to gain ground in November. Doesn’t look like it’s going to be so easy for them now.

Comparisons with Clinton are easy – Bush is more sincere, more concise, more focussed; we saw none of the self-indulgent seducer playing to our weaknesses that we endured for the last eight years. And we certainly didn’t see any of the confused, pseudo-intellectualism of that guy who couldn’t carry his home state in the last election. But it’s ingracious to even mention those two saps, so let’s move on.

What impressed me the most about this address was the contrast to Bush 41, who wasn’t even in the audience. The themes the president stressed were in many ways right out of his father’s playbook – low taxes, self-sacrifice, military power, coalition-building, and a restoral of common decency. But when 41 talked about these things, he over-coated them with saccharin and made himself look weak and ineffectual: the “1000 points of light” is a nice coinage, and it sounds good on the lips of a Peggy Noonan, but it’s over the top when a male president uses it to evoke the spirit of volunteerism. Instead, the President asked for an achievable, quanitifiable amount of volunteerism: two years or 4000 hours in the course of a lifetime. That’s what a business school education will do for you.

Others have or will comment in more detail on the triangulation and political strategy genius of the Bush positions better than I can, so I’ll leave it with the general impression that the President is salvaging the decent side of masculinity, something that hasn’t been the style since Reagan.

He’s strong, and getting stronger. I’m impressed.