Best SOTU Summary

I know it may be a little late, but I wanted to alert readers to Peggy Noonan's article about Obama's State of the Union address. As usual, she masterfully parses the meaning behind the words, accounting for tone, order of priority and context. She also discusses the larger political issues for the Republican Party and quotes an unnamed source who is spot on in my opinion:

The great issue, this friendly critic added, is debt. The public knows this; Congress and the White House do not. "To me the Republicans are as rotten as the Democrats" in terms of spending. "Almost."

"I hope we have big changes in 2010," the friend said. Only significant loss will force the president to focus on spending. "To heal our country we need to get the arrogance out of the White House and the elitists out of the Congress. We need tough love. We need a real adult in the White House because we don't have adults in the Congress."

Exactly. The public is ready for principled leadership that will give direction and reduce the spending that has nothing to do with those priorities. This is why the Tea Party movement won't go away. Republicans could show great leadership by eschewing earmarks immediately, and oppose all Democrat earmarks. But that would require adult leadership.