The Governor's State of Confusion Address.

Gov. Deval Patrick, battered and buffeted by a mid-term economic tsunami, returned to his 2006 campaign message last night in a state of the state address that was full of hope but light on specifics.

Patrick, in his second televised address, also defiantly retained his mantle of change and challenged citizens to aim high despite the bleak fiscal outlook.

“I still believe that together we can,” he said, echoing his ’06 campaign mantra. “Hunkering down may be good advice in a hurricane, but it is not leadership. I choose a politics less about tactics and more about a vision for how to help ordinary people achieve their potential even when times are tough.”

Patrick declined to say how deep he intends to slash local aid but said state and local governments will have to make hard choices as they face cuts in police and fire departments, and education.

“We are doing no more in state government than the people of the commonwealth are having to do in their own lives - to make do with less, to trim down wherever we can to get through to a better time,” the governor said.

Patrick, who has faced strong public and legislative criticism on his plan to hike tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike, also urged lawmakers to help him pass a comprehensive transportation plan.

“Let’s radically simplify our transportation system and set it on a sustainable path by enacting meaningful transportation reform,” he said.

Some Republicans slammed Patrick for failing to support pension and ethics reform. “Welcome to the party, governor,” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-Reading). “This is what my party has been talking about for the past several years and the biggest impediment has been his party.”

And so it goes...

UPDATE: More from the Herald and the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Globe.