Forget regime change -- we need a tradition change. The robotic applause and unearned standing ovations at State of the Union speeches render them as phony as our political conventions. Instead of a speech, how about a State of the Union town hall meeting? Let a sitting president listen and respond -- without looking at notes -- to real questions from real Americans with real concerns. That would be worth watching.
Bill Clinton would have loved to be part of such an event. And the current White House resident would hate it more than his father hated broccoli.
Tony Peyser
Studio City
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For President Bush to talk about protecting the environment while he and his party are conducting a relentless assault on federal and state environmental protections, or to talk about helping the weakest members of our society while he and his party are trying to chisel every dollar they can out of human services, particularly welfare, in order to support his reckless tax cuts for the rich; for him to talk about prescription drug benefits (which he and his party have blocked) or about AIDS in Africa (which he has never even noticed until now) when he needs to polish his "compassionate" image, is just galling.
