The Bush speech

I got back late from a gig and am now watching Bush's speech (as much to see the protesters dragged out as anything else).

A little web-surfing seems to show that Bush may have erred by talking of only small-bore economic initiatives and virtually ignoring the doubts that have plagued his reelection campaign throughout the last year.

From the AP's Ron Fournier:

Reluctant to admit mistakes, Bush copped to a few — arrogant, too blunt and grammatically challenged — and explained them away with laugh lines. But he didn't give an inch on the matters that matter most, a war in Iraq (news - web sites) that has cost the lives of nearly 1,000 U.S. troops, and a job-loss record that rivals Herbert Hoover.

From the Washington Post's Dan Balz:

There were some notable omissions in the president's speech. Nowhere did he confront directly what he has heard along the campaign trail in battleground states such as Ohio and Michigan, which is the loss of jobs during his presidency and uneven economic recovery that casts a shadow over his hopes for reelection.

As to my initial impressions of the speech, I'd say that with every Bush speech people tend to forget the unusually low expectations we have for our President. In truth, he's a terribly stilted speaker and whatever his appeal might be we'd do well to remember that he doesn't make his case particularly effectively - if he had, he would have won in 2000, for real.