I had to take some time to think about Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday night. I also watched the Republican rebuttal (on Fox, gasp!) and read some analysis and opinion on various web-sites and newspapers. I figured if I'm going to write about it I wanted to see what other people were saying, too.

I'm disheartened. I saw one poll that said a whopping 83% of Americans approved of Obama's speech. Talking heads, pundits, and jaundiced-eyed journalists had a whole host of negatives. He was too firm, not firm enough, too many plans, too broad, too rehearsed, too defensive, not defensive enough. I suppose these people have to say something. They can't very well write a whole column consisting of "it was good."

Personally, I thought the speech was brilliant. Then again, I'm a fan; not everybody is. There is no question that Obama is a brilliant orator. He seems to get better the longer he speaks. He has the ability to sound sincere and authoritative at the same time. This is a true gift, being a good communicator of ideas. The Republican rebuttal speaker was stilted and stiff and clearly reading a teleprompter.

I think our president addressed the frustration and anger Americans are feeling about our government. Actually, a few times I thought he had read my blog. That's how closely he managed to address issues that I have been thinking about and writing about. I loved when Obama told the Senate that "just saying no to everything is not leadership." I liked that he wasn't backing down from the impossible stubbornness of Republicans. Have you ever seen a group of people so convinced that they are right and everyone else is wrong? I'm sorry, but I have had enough.

I was feeling elated after Obama's speech. I loved his plea for government to actually work for the people. I loved his green energy plan. I loved the high speed rail plan (yes, I would like to see this all over the country). He talked of tax cuts, spending freezes, websites listing all meetings taken by politicians with lobbyists. More transparency for ear marks. Talked of a health care plan that will lower the deficit and ensure that insurance companies will be fair. I honestly do not understand how anyone can be against these things. The Republican rebuttal simply came down to this argument: government is trying to do too much. What?!?!

Republicans would like to see smaller government and less taxes, and let the chips fall where they may. Well, we did that. We had Bush/Cheney for eight long years. Between Bush's tax cuts and the war in Iraq, Bush's administration ran up a three trillion dollar deficit. Also under Bush's watch, our entire financial system almost collapsed and left America in deep trouble. One trillion dollars was added to the national debt by Obama's administration for the Wall Street bail-out. I would like to mention at this point that the bail-out was a joint effort, and in the planning stages was conceived and carried out while Bush was in office.

So I was elated and invigorated by Obama's leadership in his State of the Union address, and hoped that his words would get through to someone in that chamber. I logged on to Facebook to change my status to "I heart Obama" and I saw this little gem: "When Reagan was President, we had Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. Now that Obama is President, we have no Hope and no Cash . . . Copy and paste to your status and keep it going!!!" It was copied and pasted on the next status I looked at as well.

I don't like this feeling of us against them. It made me uncomfortable to watch the Republican side of the chamber sit stony faced as Obama spoke. One side giving standing ovations, the other jeering. I don't want to be us and them, I want to be we. It's not just in that government chamber, either; the American people are divided, too. It scares me. We must be able to meet in the middle. Obama has opposition from Republicans, sure . . . that's to be expected; but the progressives are applying pressure, too. A good leader still needs to have support.

We need to come together. We need to put aside our differences and work toward a common goal. It's the only way to effect change. The things that divide us are much less than the things that unite us. We all want our families to be safe and comfortable. We all want our kids to have better than we had. We all want the freedom to make our dreams come true. Nobody wants to see poverty, crime, and injustice in our country. We all want America to be successful and prosperous. How are we going to get there if we can't come together? If our government can't come together?