Well, even though I am a supporter of President Bush, I must say I had butterflies (or should it be "moths") in my stomach when he gave his address February 27. The President is not known for his public speaking prowess and after being spoiled for eight years by the public speaking grandeur of Clinton (I give him points for his delivery), Bush was going to have a difficult time. But he passed.

President Bush received the warm welcome any new president deserves (and any president deserves in general) and he was able to eloquently deliver the first major speech of his tenure as President. But even I, the last conservative left at Adelphi, was dismayed a little at what Bush said and didn't say.

First, while I think there should be a tax cut, and a substantial one at that, it should not be a priority at any level. Thankfully, Bush spent the first half of this speech on other proposals: education and social services among others. But then he started in on his tax cut. In my view that was a mistake: not only did it take away from substantial discussion on national security and foreign policy (I'm a little partial to those subjects), he did not address something that I think any new president should: true reform.

I liked Sen. McCain in the primaries. I voted for him (damn, there goes my shot at a political appointment in the Bush administration) and I fell in love with his ideas on reform. I think those ideas can be expanded to include the entire executive branch.

As I stated in the last column, Bush has ordered a top to bottom review of the Defense Department. I think that should be extended to each and every federal department and agency right now. This is the best time to do it.

With a surplus, every special interest in Washington is knocking on every congressperson's door. While it is hard for them to ignore the special interets, I think the President has a better chance of minimilizing their impact by conducting this review. I may be naïve but I still have hope. I am going to take a long shot and say that in every nook and cranny of the executive branch there is wasteful spending. My theory is that if this wasteful spending can be cut and added up, the amount of money leftover would be a great addition to the current surplus. The "newfound" money would be real and not the projections of political appointees.

That money, I think, could then be first redistributed among the agencies and departments for maximum impact. So, increased spending on programs would not really be increases per se, rather reinvestments with real money where it is really needed. Then I think the surplus can be used to fill in gaps (albeit smaller gaps since most of the "increases" needed would be taken care of). Then I could imagine the debate about a $16 trillion tax cut going away, for the money would actually be there. Think of it: lawmakers dealing with real money. Imagine the possibilities.