President Bush got down into the weeds of policy in the State of the Union speech last night, and the Republicans applauded most of his initiatives, but it cost them nothing aside from a little physical exertion.  They know, as do the Democrats, that virtually everything the President proposed is DOA. 

The result was a largely irrelevant speech with no new ideas in it and few surprises.  This is a tired president, one that knows that his time is almost done. 

It’s odd, because with the pressure of re-election off, President Bush might have made larger claims or pointed the way forward with more vigor.  If ever there was a time for a SOTU speech without a laundry list, this was it.

And yet we had another laundry list.  I’m assuming that the pressure was simply too great from Cabinet officials and other interested parties to have their favorite projects included. 

The most ironical moment of the night came when the President chided Congress for earmark spending and resolved to cut hither and yon in order to save a few tens of billions of dollars.  This from a President who is spending $12 billion a week on the disastrous Iraq war.

But the funniest moment of the night came thanks to Speaker Pelosi, who amused herself and no doubt countless viewers by making odd faces and doing strange things with her lips behind the President’s back. 

It was near the beginning of the speech.  Check it out.  What was she thinking?