If George W. Bush could sing and dance to "Yankee Doodle Dandy," he probably would have last night, as part of a sentimental patriotic spectacle technically known as the State of the Union address. Bush pulled out all the stops in exploiting the success of the recent election in U.S.-occupied Iraq and had guest stars in the balcony to back him up.
On television, where the 53-minute speech was carried live by all the major networks, Bush looked alternately ebullient and determined, with little gestures of cockiness popping up now and then. He picked a bad time to grin and wink at someone in the audience, because the next topic on his agenda was AIDS research, but for the most part he showed increased command and proficiency in his speechifying. Maybe it helped that he abandoned his usual powder- or baby-blue tie for a bright red one, a red to match the stripes in the huge flag behind him in the Capitol's House chamber.
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Bush also spoke, inevitably, of the valor of U.S. troops fighting in Iraq with no end in sight, or at least announced, and paid tribute to a fallen Marine from Texas, Sgt. Byron Norwood. Then came the most emotional moment of the evening. Janet and William Norwood, the young man's parents, were also seated in the gallery and stood up to tumultuous and prolonged applause. Janet Norwood hugged the Iraqi voter (one finger purple as a symbol of having voted), and they seemed to get briefly entangled in each other's jewelry as the applause went on.
The president, strikingly, stared up at the balcony with little visible emotion on his face but eyes that appeared to be growing misty. Was this a genuine expression of America appreciating its men and women in uniform, or a shameless political stunt using grief-stricken parents as pawns? As we all know in the age of media moments, it matters less what it was than what it was perceived to be, and to a greater degree than perhaps any other time since he's been in office, Bush appeared to have the perception presidency well in hand.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59332-2005Feb3?language=printer
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