For me to give his speech from last night a good grade, Bush needed to admit his cocaine habit was back with a vengeance thanks to Jack Abramoff followed by a Greco-Roman wrestling match with Dick Cheney to settle once and for all who really is the boss. I might have even been satisfied with some meaningful commentary on the situation in Louisiana and Mississippi post-Katrina.

Since none of that happened, here are some excerpts from US newspapers' reactions to the State of The Union address.

LOS ANGELES TIMES - "But the president often musters laudable principles to avoid specifics or deflect unpleasant realities."

BOSTON GLOBE - The paper noted that Bush suggested political freedom was an antidote to terrorism but it said "exporting democracy has proved difficult in Iraq, and the risks became all too obvious with the Hamas landslide in Palestinian elections."

ARIZONA REPUBLIC - "For Bush to advance the notion of 'a hopeful society' - as he did in a stirring, keep-your-chin-up, final portion of his speech - he also implicitly acknowledged a corollary to that fervent hope. That unspoken admission is that Americans need a bit of encouragement because they do not sense all is well in this post-9/11 world."