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I loved the president's State of the Union Address. I will have to admit to 'preconceived notions' however. People tend to toss that word around as if it's a bad thing. All of us have preconceived notions - they are just things that we have learned before the particular event. This doesn't mean we are not open to new experiences, it just means we come to the table the sum total of our past experiences. This is also true of President Bush. Those who support him tend to be those who have similar 'preconceived notions', and those who don't tend to have differing 'preconceived notions'. Not all preconceived notions have the same value: some are just wrong, but we all have the right to our notions, right or wrong. Hopefully, we will all be willing to listen to the other side, and possibly learn something, because preconceived notions don't have to be set in stone notions. All our beliefs are evolving every day. Reinforcement of a notion tends to set it a little deeper, while negative experiences about it will make us think twice. One thing seems to be for sure, however, telling someone they are wrong, or telling them they are talking from their 'preconceived notions' tends to set those notions a lot deeper. People dig in their heels to defend themselves, and so it all continues. Definition of political bipartisanship: my preconceived notions are better than your preconceived notions.

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