Sitting, Standing, Watching, Waiting

Here are some observations of this strange day in politics.

Sitting: The Democrats sat when the president implored the Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to improve education in this country.

Standing: The Democrats stood when the president said we should do something about the Sudan.

Watching: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) looked like she had a terrible case of indigestion as she watched the president gives his final State of the Union.

Waiting: Democrats will probably wait out the clock on the president’s call to make his tax cuts permanent. Get ready for the largest tax increase in history.

Sitting: The Democrats kept sitting when the president called on the Congress to pass legislation to allow our spy agencies to keep listening in on calls from known terrorists.

Standing: The Democrats stood for our veterans, but didn’t stand when the president called for fully funding our troops.

Watching: All eyes were on Hillary and Obama, who didn’t make eye contact despite sitting close together in the House chamber. I guess there are some hard feelings between them.

Waiting: I am hearing that Al Gore is going to jump in the race on April 1 if the Democrats haven’t made their choice by then.

Sitting: The Democrats sat when the president implored them to pass a free trade pact with Colombia, one of our best allies in the region and a bulwark against the extremism of Hugo Chavez. Joe Kennedy — Mr. Venezuelan Oil — must have told the Democrats to keep sitting.

Standing: How about the old man standing for Obama? Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the lion of the left, sees something in Obama that makes him smile. Or perhaps he remembers that Bill Clinton endorsed Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Watching: All eyes now turn to Florida, where Hillary Clinton is trying to steal a primary and Republicans are battling it out for supremacy. The big question is: Can Rudy Giuliani survive Florida? If the polls are wrong (and they may be), Giuliani can mount a huge comeback. But if they aren’t, Rudy is finished.

Waiting: We all wait for Super Tuesday. But a few more days like this, and it could be a long week.