State of the Union Play-by-Play

You are looking live at the United States House of Representatives, where President George W. Bush is ready to deliver the 2007 State of the Union, Presented by Citi! Hello again, everybody! With Bob Davie and Kirk Herbstreit, I’m Brent Musburger. Now folks, the President is entering in to some unfamiliar territory this year, and with both Houses run by the Democrats, he’ll have to give a whale of a speech to win Americans back to his corner. Pardner, the gallery is ready, kickoff’s just around the corner, and folks, President Bush is here for The Thrill of It!

Welcome back to our nation’s capital, I’m Brent Musburger. This broadcast of the State of the Union is being brought to you in hiiiigh definition by Aquos. For those of you who just joined us, President Bush started the 2007 State of the Union, Presented by Citi by recognizing and praising Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the new Democratic majority in both houses. Now folks, this is the first time Mr. Bush has faced a hostile chamber since becoming President. And remember folks, in the State of Texas, both sides of the Statehouse were controlled by the Democrats at one time or another during Bush’s terms as Governor. You can tell that he’s got a lot of fire in his belly, folks, because he’s starting off strong with broad images of national unity and calls for continuing the fight against evil. Now Bob, what do you think of President Bush’s economic plans so far?

“A very conservative approach rooted in the fundamentals: a balanced budget, low taxes, and tight spending. All three of which Republicans struggled at last session. In order to be successful tonight and this season, he’s going to have to push these hard, especially against this tough liberal defense. I also liked the blitz on earmarks and the quip about C-SPAN. Social Security and entitlement reform has been a trademark idea of the Bush administration, you can tell he wants to run with it, but he’s struggled to get it going.”

Folks, he’s now in to the red zone needing important points on his health care and immigration reform. This is one of the many issues in the last election where the Democrats won without being able to offer anything coherent. Both of his proposals looked good, with tax deductions and federal funds for states covering their citizens, but these bold ideas might not make it against this stout defense. Folks, it looks like he may go three and out again on immigration, a move that cost him late in the last election season. Energy is another important set of issues and proposals that don’t look good against the Democrats’ prevent defense.

We’re in the money quarter of the 2007 State of the Union, Presented by Citi. The President has moved in to his foreign affairs agenda, and lucky for him, this doesn’t seem to be effected by the Democrats’ defense, which proved dominating in the past three quarters. President Bush has discussed the need for continued resilience in the War on Terror, support for our allies and pressure on our adversaries in the Middle East, and he stressed the importance of winning in Iraq with increased troop numbers. Now folks, the Democrats want very much to keep that from happening, but they can’t seem to be able to do anything about it with weak “symbolic resolutions” and feeble rhetoric about “a new direction” that’s being met on the line. It’s safe to say now folks that the most important part of the President’s game plan is working without much opposition from the Democrats. They can complain and protest as much as they want, but they won’t be able to beat America without pulling funding from the soldiers themselves.

Well folks, the President has entered victory formation with salutes to soldiers, entrepreneurs, and famous athletes in the gallery. It’s safe to say that he got the job done tonight. He didn’t do a lot right, but he didn’t do all that much wrong either. That’ll do it for the 2007 State of the Union, Presented by Citi. For Bob Davie and Kirk Herbstreit, I’m Brent Musburger. Stay tuned for the Democrat response given by a first-term Senator from the south with a pound of chewing tobacco in each cheek. So long, everybody!