Locke deceives nation

President George W. Bush delivered the annual State of the Union address last night amid the usual pomp and circumstance. Still, this year's address acts not as legislation nor a declaration of war, but merely as a speech, making it the same as every other address -- insignificant.

In his speech, Bush mentioned a variety of economic and social plans, and it will be interesting to see which ideas make it off the drawing board and into legislation, as so many of them typically fall silently into the waste basket.

Of most interest, and perhaps importance, to residents of Washington state should be the Democratic response to the address, delivered by Gov. Gary Locke.

Just like the address, Locke's response proved of little significance to the overall political action of the country. Regardless, Locke shared with the rest of the nation some interesting facts about our state, many of which seem like more of a joke than a serious synopsis of our state's current situation.

When talking about education, Locke was sure to inform America about the great advances we have made, including reducing class sizes and offering "college scholarships even as the federal government cut its aid to deserving students." Quite a statement, considering the amount of state funding being cut from education, especially higher education.

Locke was an interesting choice to deliver the Democratic response. After all, our state is in a dire economic position, with one of the highest unemployment rates and a huge budget shortfall. Certainly, other party leaders came from better-performing states.

As the rest of the country took Locke seriously, we in Washington knew better.