State of the Onion

I was impressed by the President's speech tonight. While short on specifics, he outlined some bold ideas and occasionally tried to reach out to the Democrats. Still, he couldn't help but be confrontational about some touchy subjects. Still... the Dems seemed a bit petty in applauding the lack-o-Social Security reform. Bush was right -- it still needs to be fixed.

The part that surprised me was the "addicted to oil" comment. Wasn't Bush an oil man? Isn't his staff comprised of many former oil execs? Didn't he push through a $75,000 tax rebate program for 6,000lb+ SUVs? Didn't he cancel the tax credits for hybrids? Isn't Andrew Card, the former mouthpiece of Detroit, his chief of staff?

In other words, his backers are going to be very upset if America starts reducing its oil consumption. The technology is there today: Safe, reliable, good-performing vehicles. They just aren't built by Detroit.

I'm not sure where this can go, but it will be interesting to watch... well, as long as we don't wear t-shirts that say "Support our troops."