SOTU Review

After watching the State of the Union, Bush seems even weaker than I thought, and that’s pretty weak. I haven’t seen any polling data, but this could be the first time since they have been polling that a President’s approval rating could go down after a SOTU address. Specifically, I have a few problems with the speech. We’ll start with the superficial and work toward the substantial. This president is a terrible public speaker. His rhythm is awful, he stumbles over words and completely lacks the ability to inspire through oratory. There are some that say there are many important qualities to leading the nation that do not include public speaking. I agree, but I think that out of 300 million people, we can find a few that have the intellectual capabilities to be president and the ability to speak well to a nation. Substantially, the President invoked the 9/11 attacks consistently throughout the address. In other words, FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR. Remember how those 19 men from Iraq…err… Afghanistan…err… I mean Saudi Arabia attacked us 5 years ago? Remember how much you liked me back then? Remember the confidence you had in me then? Please forget the past 4 years of failed policy in Iraq – the turning of corners, the nonexistent WMDs, the last throes of the insurgency, the trillion dollars spent, staying the course, the 3,000+ dead Americans and the seemingly endless war. The President has so little credibility that he had to quote terrorists in order to try to convince Americans to trust him. He can no longer use his own words to strike fear in everyone; now he is reduced to using the words of the very men who are trying to kill us. When bin Laden has more credibility than you, you know you are in trouble. Why should we believe that the terrorists will fight us here if they don’t fight us in Iraq? Why, after all the other lies this administration has told (yellow cake anyone?) should we now trust you? Domestically, the President gave a convoluted and incoherently-written proposal about health care. Rather than go into my thoughts on health care here, wait a few weeks and we will have a fuller debate about it. As for the energy section, we’ll tackle that next week. In short, we need a comprehensive energy policy that focuses on higher fuel-efficiency standards, increased public transportation and reduced consumption. No Child Left Behind is reviled by teachers across the nation, including friends of mine who are conservative republicans. The last thing we need is to let that atrocity of a bill sail through Congress without severe rewriting and rethinking. Education can be the great equalizer, the silver bullet that can pull kids out of poverty, drugs and a cycle of violence. A real commitment to education could propel American to even greater heights – in the 60’s, a true commitment to math and science brought man to the moon. The possibilities are endless, if only this administration would live up to its commitment of being the education administration. All in all, I give the address a D+. I did like honoring the subway hero from New York. That was definitely the highlight. Policy-wise, not impressive in the least.

First, let me pause and appreciate the fact that one of my New Year’s resolutions has come true. For personal confirmation of this, see the “Oh, really!” segment of SNL from last weekend regarding Michael Vick.” Despite the fact that some of the President’s most vigorous applause came during his pandering to the futile ideal of bipartisanship; I am not a believer. I am convinced that the next 12 to 24 months in Congress will be one long campaign for President, interspersed with bickering along traditional party lines. It is clear, from the covert activities over the last few months, culminating in announcements about Presidential exploratory committees, to the responses to Bush’s State of The Union that many of the most important and influential members of Congress and the Senate have their minds elsewhere, namely on the President’s job. So, what does that mean for the State of the Union…well, the President seems to believe that – the War on Terror is good, the troops in Iraq are good, Congress’ failure to support Bush’s strategy in Iraq is bad, balanced budgets are good, health insurance for poor people is good, global warming is bad, education for our children is good, world peace is good…etc. Practically speaking, the State of the Union means that Bush is going to bog down every subcommittee on Capitol Hill with legislation over the next several months. Ambiguous and controversial proposals are great time wasters in a city divided. The pundits are discussing Bush’s new education reforms and changes to “No Child Left Behind.” What a dumb name, there are kids left behind everywhere. I was left behind every time we played sports, no skills. I have friends that will always be left behind economically, no desire. Bush wants mandatory test scores in science and school choice via vouchers. Democrats will offer counter proposals, Republicans will offer counter-counter proposals. Bureaucrats will rejoice – there is red tape and legal documents to go around aplenty for years to come. Advocacy groups will demand hearings, and the other side will demand counter hearings. They will debate funding levels, implementation strategies, impacts to educational systems, minority issues, gender issues, sexual orientation issues, how to keep the system accountable, can we keep the system accountable, who is going to have oversight, blah, blah, blah… Then it will be February 2008 and oops, we are out of time. Must run for President. And then the Democrats will serve with, “the GOP fought us on education reform,” volleyed back by the Republicans, “the democrats were not serious about educational choice,” returned with, “the GOP never made meaningful, practical proposals,” countered with, “the Democrats were not serious about bipartisanship,” and so on. It will be flavors of the same on every topic. Neither party can let the other party have a victory/feather in their cap going into 2008. The Democrats can not let the President advance his health insurance proposals, because they want to be the saviors for the uninsured. The Republicans can not let the President move forward on his immigration strategy because they want to mandate who can and can not come into this land of the free. Everybody wants to say Iraq=bad, but soldiers=good except the President. Any major reform will be countered and watered down so badly that I can not see it having true impact. Consequently, the State of the Union was for me, an announcement that no major reform will be accomplished over the next 2 years as both parties wait with bated breath for a new national leader.