After School Night For Scouting and Open House at school I was too tired to take on Andariel, so I watched TV instead while I unloaded the dishwasher. I didn’t get home until about 9:20, so when I flipped on the TV President Bush was in the middle of the domestic laundry list. He was taking about partial privatization of Social Security, which made me simultaneously think “Amen, brother!” and “Quit talking about it and do something about it.”
I hate that State of the Union Style speech — promises mixed with applause — so I flipped over to the ballgame. No, not the Rams losing to the Raiders (I bet Dodd’s happy), the Cardinals stomping on the Padres again (oh yeah, the Cardinals sure did look “beatable”). I was happy my wife and son got to see a good game, but I was surprised when they got home at about 9:35 — I thought it would be closer to 10. So after I got my sons take on the game and he went off to bed, we flipped back to the President and got to the good part.
I thought he did a fine job – he poked fun at himself, always a plus for me (although that shoulder shake thing he does when he laughs is either deeply annoying or deeply endearing, sometimes both at the same time), he was serious and determined, and he was clearly teary eyed when he talked about the sacrifices soldiers and their families were making in the war on terror.
George Bush could be a cub master – you have to like being the butt of most of the jokes. I just can’t imagine John Kerry making jokes at his own expense let alone having fun with it. While I’ve always said it’s easy to fake sincerity, it’s spontaneity that is hard to fake, I do think Bush’s teary eyes were sincere. I know Bill Clinton among others could turn the waterworks on and off at will, but I don’t think Bush can (I don’t think Kerry’s that good a fake, either).
I can’t make any predictions or claims about the effects on the famed swing voters, but I don’t think Bush hurt himself with the speech, and I do think he’s pulling ahead of Kerry. I’ll be honest, I don’t see how anybody but a hard core Democrat could vote for Kerry. But I know perfectly reasonable sane and smart people who think Kerry is the better of the two for President. Bush wouldn’t be my first pick out of everybody for President, but there’s only two in the race.
