Democratic Response To SOTU

In a word: Pathetic.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius of course walks a tightrope as a Democratic Governor of a Red State ... but Come. On. Her response was a study in High Broderism, the Kumbayah nonsense that worries me so much about the only person who got a Presidential welcome in the House Chamber this evening -- Barack Obama.

This is closer to the proper response,

"Mr. President, how dare you? How dare you pretend to be a leader on Global climate issues? How dare you claim fiscal responsibility, or any kind of responsibility with the management of this nation that you and your administration have displayed?

How dare you blame public schools and the hard working teachers that staff them for your failure? How dare you claim to be a leader for the humanity of African nations and leave the legacy of New Orleans, the gulf coast, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in your own nation?

Mr. President, you are a failure and will go down in history as the worst President ever.

Let this speech tonight be a reminder of why it is so important to have a Democratic President and a massive majority in Congress! Never again ALLOW THESE PEOPLE Control of anything. Please, for the good of the nation, leave not one of them standing in a position of government."

My respectful response to this joke of a President: Don't Let The Door Hit You In The Ass, Dickhead -- and take your pet troll Cheney with you.

I mean, really Governor Sebelius, even Obama himself had a much stronger response than you offered. She talked of the President joining the new majority of Americans. As if, lady.

Did I miss the memo? Did we win something. Congress is hostage to the GOP's record number of Senate filibusters and the Blue Dogs in the House. The C-Plus Augustus who talks of making health care affordable still wields a veto pen dripping blood-red ink from canceling medical coverage for kids.

John Edwards reminds us that now is no time to be complacent, to simply wait out this destructive man with nothing to lose. We have to take the fight to George Bush and all he represents. So far, we've only taken a first step, or maybe two with a shuffle backwards.

"And in the chamber of the House of Representatives where the president speaks, even though this Congress stopped listening to him a while ago, they will still applaud and cheer him. The truth is that Washington is out of touch with what's happening across the country. Between now and January of 2009, Democrats must stand up to this president, stand up for what's right, so he does not continue to forget about the middle class in this country."

Whether Edwards wins the nomination is immaterial to me at this point. He's right, I agree with him. I like his style (and I'm not talking about his hair), because he recognizes that the struggle to right the wrongs in our nation is a fight to the death.

Obama did have his Kumbayah moment at the end of his response:

We see half the country tune in to watch, but know that much of the country has stopped even listening. Imagine if next year was different. Imagine if next year, the entire nation had a president they could believe in. A president who rallied all Americans around a common purpose.

However, at least Barack got in his digs in the beginning, a slap across the face of the Miserable Failure that stood petulantly as usual at that podium where so many of his betters have spoken -- including the guy who tests the microphones.

Tonight was President Bush's last State of the Union, and I do not believe history will judge his administration kindly. But I also believe the failures of the last seven years stem not just from any single policy, but from a broken politics in Washington. A politics that says it's ok to demonize your political opponents when we should be coming together to solve problems.

Sadly, as far as I'm concerned, as Paul Rosenberg said, "It's not a case of bringing a knife to a gunfight, it's a case of brining a plastic yogurt spoon to a nuclear war." Barack just doesn't get the simple fact that the ideology epitomized by the Bush regime can never again be allowed to have any influence whatsoever in our foreign or domestic policy.

Hillary, I have to say, hit it out of the park.

Domestically:

President Bush had one final chance tonight to acknowledge what the American people have known for years: that the economy is not working for middle class families. Unfortunately, what he offered was more of the same - a frustrating commitment to the same failed policies that helped turn record surpluses into large deficits, and push a thriving twenty-first century economy to the brink of recession.

On Iraq:

The Administration brandishes many numbers. The one I'm most focused on is that 2007 was the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq. And the humanitarian situation remains devastating.

President Bush isn't satisfied with failure after failure in Iraq; he wants to bind the next President to his failed strategy by unilaterally negotiating with the Iraqi government about the future of the U.S.-Iraq security relationship, including the possibility of permanent U.S. bases in Iraq.

And she nails the real problem, George Bush just doesn't give a shit about anybody.

After seven long years of this Presidency, I am committed as President to solve problems, not ignore them.

Thank goodness no one's ever mentioned Kathleen Sebelius as a possible presidential candidate. Unlike Hillary and Edwards --- and to a lesser degree, Obama, the Governor just doesn't have any balls.