Contrasts

If I recall correctly (or IIRC as they say on the internet), I watched roughly twenty minutes of W's first nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress. I thought he was a worthless POS, but I also realized my responsibilities as a citizen required me to give the guy at least one chance to win me over.

W's first twenty minutes were all it took to convince me all my impressions of him were accurate, and to reach a decision that I'd never watch another of his speeches if I could possibly avoid it. That was one resolution I was able to stick to.

Tonight the new guy, who I think of as Joe Cool, showed up on the tube to give his "not-quite-State-of-the-Union" address, and I believe I'll probably be watching more of his speeches in the future. The guy says things I more or less agree with, and he's a polished speaker as well. As a point of contrast, the Republicans turned their response speech over to the guy they consider the conservative version of Barack Obama, the governor of Louisiana, Piyush (Bobby) Jindal. Watching Jindal, I could almost imagine assorted GOP big wheels seeing Obama speaking to a rally of 100,000 happy supporters in 2008 and thinking, "We've gotta get us one of those."

I'll acknowledge my bias right up front, but it boils down to this: Piyush, you ain't no Barack Obama. You're barely better than W. Just another creepy guy talking about tax cuts.