State of the Union

Bush's approval numbers in the recent polls have dropped again, flatlining in the lower forties. In two days he addresses the nation--I'll not watch it (can't bear it to see his face, hear his voice) but I'll read about the speech afterward--and I'll report on what, if any, effect it has on the polls. A president usually gets a bit of a bounce after the SOU speech--and this one will be followed by the Democrats' filibuster attempt on the Alito nomination--so no doubt there'll be some good news for Bush momentarily. But with all the shoes that haven't yet dropped, from Fitzgerald's Plame-gate investigation to the Abrahamoff scandals to the NSA spying hearings to the ongoing negative news from Iraq and elsewhere in the far- and middle-East, I'm thinking Bush had better come up with another terror threat (or, possibly, and attack) sometime this spring. My guess is that he'll create a crisis about Iran (recall, there's been talk about some kind of action against Iran in March on account of that country's upcoming monetary moves in the form of the creation of a bourse), just about when his poll numbers tank again.