Reactions to the SOTU speech

Here is the Republican response by Virginia governor Bob McDonnell. On health care:
“All Americans agree, we need a health care system that is affordable, accessible, and high quality. But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government. Republicans in Congress have offered legislation to reform healthcare, without shifting Medicaid costs to the states, without cutting Medicare, and without raising your taxes. We will do that by implementing common sense reforms, like letting families and businesses buy health insurance policies across state lines, and ending frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals that drive up the cost of your healthcare. And our solutions aren’t thousand-page bills that no one has fully read, after being crafted behind closed doors with special interests.”

On the role of government:
“Many Americans are concerned about this Administration’s efforts to exert greater control over car companies, banks, energy and health care. Over-regulating employers won’t create more employment; overtaxing investors won’t foster more investment. Top-down one-size fits all decision making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism. As our Founders clearly stated, and we Governors understand, government closest to the people governs best.”

Re: the SOTU speech, here is Victor Davis Hanson with a spot-on dissection of this trite and infuriating performance.

Alex Castellanos on the lack of substance beyond the platitudes.

Former intelligence agent and speech writer Marc Thiessen goes beyond the same criticisms others have made. Excerpt:

“He scolded Scott Brown (without mentioning his name) and all those who have criticized his handling of the Christmas Day bomber, declaring that ‘all of us love this country’ and warning critics to ‘put aside the schoolyard taunts about who is tough.’ If you disagree with Obama’s policies, you are questioning his patriotism. Imagine what the reaction would have been if Bush had tried that in a State of the Union with those who criticized the surge in Iraq. The howls of the liberal media would have been deafening.
“His one moment of ‘humility’ came when he acknowledged his biggest mistake of the past year: his failure to adequately explain his policies to all of us. This was a State of the Union for the slow learners. His message to all of us was: ‘Let me speak slowly for you.’”