As President Bush gave his address, his tone was mediocre. Sure, his speech was filled with flagrant gestures and forced emotion, but on the whole, the speech lacked real passion and conviction.

Perhaps this is because he had nothing to say for which to get passionate about. The entire address was characterized by eloquently worded generalizations, crafty distraction, and evasion of the real issues.

As usual, the majority of the speech was padded with patriotic fluff. Bush commented extensively on America’s resolve and courage, and assured the people that we would face all challenges bravely and emerge triumphantly.

Sounds great, yes, but it’s a great-sounding way to say absolutely nothing about anything, and get a standing ovation.

His first major point, not surprisingly, was a large tax-cut, targeted at middle-class families. He claims that the extra money (estimated average of $1,100) families would have to spend would stimulate the economy down the road, as well as help Americans today.

This sounds outstanding to many taxpayers, who would do just about anything for an $1,100 tax-cut, but those who are concerned with the economy raise serious questions as to whether the economic growth triggered by the cut could approach that will be done to the economy by the lost tax-revenue.

Sound economics or not, when the public is involved, you can’t go wrong with a big juicy tax-break.

In a classic Republican move, Bush also asked for an end to dividend taxes, which tax the profits of a company twice.

Once when the company makes the profits, and again when they are passed onto shareholders. While this is fair tax policy, it only benefits those who own large amounts of corporate stock, I.R.A.- rich people.

The next rabbit George W. pulled from his hat was a proposal for $15 billion in AIDS relief to Africa.

This is a noble cause and a benevolent act, but one can’t help wonder if the motives for this move were based more in the realm of compassion or public relations.

For his next trick, Bush proposed $1.2 billion for research to develop a hydrogen-powered car.

At long last, the subject of Bush’s speech turned to the situation in Iraq. As I watched the address, I eagerly awaited some new nugget of information, some piece of insight, anything at all that could shed some more light on the subject.

I was sorely disappointed. Bush laid out a list of offenses and violations we already knew about, complete with dramatic flair.

He then went on to drop the bombshell that contrary to popular belief, Saddam Hussein is actually not a good guy. According to Bush, he is an evil dictator and must be stopped. Now there’s something we didn’t know.

This is not an inaccurate assessment of the situation, and wouldn’t be so aggravating if Bush had gone on to say something else, anything else, about Iraq.

But he didn’t. He promised more facts and evidences Feb. 5, from Colin Powell, and that will have to do.

In the end, I stand in awe of George Bush’s ability to talk for an hour without saying a damn thing. I can’t come down too hard on the guy(for that), that’s what State of the Union addresses are, but in these pivotal times, a little actual information would have been nice, that’s all.