The State of the Union address will be delivered by President George W. Bush tonight at 9 PM EST. I’ll be away from a television during the speech so I won’t be live blogging. You can always go to Technorati to find out who’ll be providing the minute by minute commentary during the address. I’ll be watching a stream of the speech later in the evening and will provide my thoughts shortly after.
Here’s what I hope to hear tonight:
1. Iran – Bush needs to warn Americans about the threat posed by the current regime and not sugar coat the possible result should the Iranians fail to comply with world demands to curtail their nuclear ambitions.
2. Social Security – Get back on the bus with this topic and put it back on the agenda for the mid-term elections. Democrats think they won the argument last time, but they didn’t. If Bush brings it back, Democrats will be forced to talk about their alternative solutions. They have none.
3. The Borders – It’s time for a fence. A majority of Americans want one.
Bush is coming into the speech tonight riding on the success of a’strengthening economy,’today’s’confirmation’of Justice’Samuel Alito, and’the’democratic’elections in Iraq. Yet, he still faces challenges regarding the leadership transition in the House, the Abramoff matter and’his terrorist surveillance program.’I don’t expect to hear anything about the first two issues, but’I’m betting he’mentions something about the importance of the surveillance program’when he’discusses the’status of the war on terror.
I’m looking forward to an exceptional speech tonight.
UPDATE: Here’s a speech preview.
UPDATE II: My reaction to the speech.