State of the Union Wish List

President Bush will be delivering the annual State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. Here are some of my expectations.

Things I expect to hear, and will make me happy:

• Extending the tax cuts
• Very tough talk against Iran
• Iraq status report

Things I expect to hear, and will make me a saaaad panda:

• Credit-taking over anything related to Hurricane Katrina
• Friendly (or even neutral) overtures to Hamas
• Humanitarian aid spending

Things I don't expect to hear about, but wish Bush would address:

• Scolding Congress over earmarks
• The topic of eminent domain
• Ethics standards in the wake of the Abramoff scandal
• The Q4'05 GDP
• Social Security reform
• Medicare reform
• The cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit

Things I don't expect to hear about, and don't want to:

• Abortion (except perhaps very briefly)
• Anything related to NASA missions