The Discerning Texan

As I said below in my updated entry, I am very pleasantly surprised. Here are some other initial reactions:

Hugh Hewitt is pleasantly surprised also.

AJ Strata was jazzed.

Captain Ed live-blogged, as did Mary Katherine Ham; but she wasn't exactly thrilled with the treatment of the address by the Associated Press (who can blame her).

There was also an all-star cast live blogging over at NRO's The Corner. I especially identified with Peter Robinson's take:

Dubya Comes Off the Ropes

Nancy Pelosi’s sour face (see John Pod), her hopping up to applaud the reference to Darfur (see Mark Steyn)—all this was very annoying, I’ll grant. But what mattered tonight were the words and performance of George W. Bush. Both proved better—dramatically better—than we had any reason to expect.

Yes, he began with some therapeutic-sounding nonsense about “making life better” (see, once again, Mr. Steyn). But listen to this: “A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy.” Or to this: “[We need to expand the econony] not with more government, but with more enterprise.” These were the most straightforward, compelling statement of the fundamental importance of free markets that this president has uttered in many months. On balancing the budget “without raising taxes,” on reducing earmarks, on reforming entitlements, on the need for school vouchers, and in presenting his plan to restore tax neutrality to health spending—in nearly every word of his domestic agenda, the president proved serious, compelling, and—a word I’d almost given up associating with him—conservative.

The section on the war on terror? The best statement of his case since his speech to the nation on September 20, 2001. Whereas a year ago the president spoke about Iraq in words he might almost have used a full year earlier, tonight he was specific to this moment. He explained how we reached this point, what we face now—and what he intends to do about it. “Whatever you voted for,” he said to his audience, “you did not vote for failure.” Superb.

The speech was straightforward, solidly delivered, and cogent—a case made in full, an argument. It would have represented a fine piece of work at any time. But at this moment, when the nation is disheartened, when the president’s political opponents appear positively giddy with his standing in the polls, and when some two-thirds of Congress appears to be clamoring for retreat from Iraq—at this moment the speech represented a really splendid act of courage.

UPDATE: Mark Steyn, also at The Corner, discusses Democrat Stenny Hoyer's claim that the "real" war is in Afghanistan, not Iraq:

Andy is right about Steny Hoyer. You can argue that Iraq is not the most important part of the war but it’s ludicrous to insist that it’s no part of it at all. For one thing, any outcome that can be presented as a US defeat will be a huge boost for our enemies around the world, and be very revealing of our credibility. This Dem device of always being in favor of some war somewhere other than the one you’re in is laughable. And, after calling for more troops for years and then objecting when it actually happens, Democrat butching up on this tired trope should be seen for what it is: bad-faith poseur politics on the critical issue of our times.

Labels: Middle East, President Bush, State of the Union, US Politics