Sitting here watching the State of the Union, and some brief thoughts:

I was happy to hear the President’s many calls for improved high-speed rail.

I think the biggest shout-outs to the liberal base were expressing the tax cuts on millionaires should not be permanent, and highlighting the end of DADT (and Vermont Law School has not allowed military recruiters in light of DADT, and I think the President just asked us to change our policy).

What is going to happen to earmarks?

As someone who teaches Natural Resources Law, I enjoyed the salmon joke.  “We live and do business in the information age, but the last major reorganization of the government happened in the age of black and white TV. There are twelve different agencies that deal with exports. There are at least five different entities that deal with housing policy. Then there’s my favorite example: the Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them in when they’re in saltwater. And I hear it gets even more complicated once they’re smoked.”

Finally, despite many on both sides of the political aisle who think Obama is a big liberal, the President is not.  He was and is a pragmatic moderate Democratic.  And I actually think, as a result, this political environment (e.g., the Dems not controlling both houses) will actually work to his political advantage.

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