I am a little curious about his idea for designing and establishing a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Sounds like a move to institutionalize the use of contractors on the battlefield:

Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time.

Where did he get that idea? Halliburton/KBR? Eric Prince? Or is he just laying ground cover for the coming congressional hearings on Iraq contractor fraud and abuse? I suppose it’s an effort for jointness.

Nevertheless, I liked the energy theme.

For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists — who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments, raise the price of oil and do great harm to our economy.

More importantly, he called for diversifying energy sources through technology (although he missed a good point about new energy technology bringing about a new generation of US exports).
And I liked the 20 percent reduction in gasoline useage in the next decade:

I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next ten years — thereby cutting our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.

Bush should have been more ambitious and raised the bar to 100 percent energy independence in the next decade. That would be a 10 percent reduction a year. Energy independence should be the equivalent to the space race and “putting a man on the moon” in the next decade.