George W. Bush has just concluded his 47-minute State of the Union address, which halted the production of The Mirror this Tuesday night. It was a competent address, as much of a compliment that my Massachusetts’ liberal blood can allow me to say. Our staff settled on MSNBC for the television coverage. The Leftward-leaning members pushed for CNN and the Right-wingers wanted Fox News. (gag, says Frank – our Nader-freak Editor in Chief)
Bush’s task was both easy and complicated. That doesn’t make any sense, so let me justify it. At the speech’s inception, Bush had a firm grip on one of the highest approval ratings enjoyed by a President in recent memory. He’s got the momentum, but at the same time he has to cope with a tremendous amount of focus. In attendance were a number of dignitaries, including the new interim leader of Afghanistan, Chairman Hamid Karzai. Every word and gesture that Bush made Tuesday night will be analyzed and scrutinized throughout the globe by far more talented and wise people than myself.
Bush delivered a clear message while under this spotlight and was not muddled with much complexity; which may very well be beyond his limited mental faculties. However, most of this kind of speech is cautious rhetoric and there is much to be settled in our shaky times.
As I am concluding this column, I’m pretty confident that I will never be a journalist. This is a very strange statement for my first written work in my brief career as the Commentary Editor, a stint that has now concluded its second week. I began this whole mess as a sort of hobby and it has evolved into an insanity which one of these days will pay me enough to buy my thirteenth meal at Barone in a week. Some time ago our Graphic Arts Editor was asleep, waiting for the late hours when his frantic job will begin. And just moments ago the Sports Editor was sent spiraling into a tirade because the men’s basketball team lost their game against Niagara and his witty headline-idea will never to see the light of day. “Niagara Falls.”
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