Congratulations to the production team the 2003 STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH was brilliant in content, performance and direction. The writers did a magnificent job given the material and skillful direction made the lead actor George W Bush almost look like real statesman. There were times when even the most astute viewer might have thought that he not only understood the the script but also passionately believed he was telling the truth.

The direction was masterful and showed the importance of a extensive rehearsals. Gone were all those 'Gee Ma. Look at me I'm the President of the U-nited States' smirks, the embarrassing malapropisms and moments of total vacancy. I was amused by the retention of the 'nucular' pronunciation of nuclear and realised this was essential to avoid any suggestion of the use of animatronics.

The voice coach was a good idea because it is now possible to realise that the United States is at war with terrorists rather than 'tourists' although more work has to be done with peril it is still coming over as 'pearl'. However, those are just little niggles, the main thing was that the tone of the monologue was just about spot on and the focus excellent. Lowering of the voice and looking right down the barrel of the camera to give the appearance of speaking directly to the home viewer was a logistic masterstroke.

It always amazes those in other parts of the world to see opponents applauding. It may be tradition but it looks so damn silly. The audience management was of high quality but the standing ovations somewhat too frequent to be believed, was there a fault in the wiring of the whoopy cushions?

Anyway all things considered the speech was a triumph and George W. Bush though never entirely looking like a true leader came pretty close. At least some of the time he appeared sincere and what is it they say 'If you can fake that you can fake anything'?

I only have one real complaint and that is about the writers. If you want to plagiarise don't steal from people who advocate human rights. Those sentiments aren't really convincing from a President who liked blowing up frogs with fire crackers when he was a kid.