SOTU Letdown

Here are my thoughts from London on the State of the Union Address:

Coming out of his worst year yet in the White House, President Bush had a chance to rebuild his administration during the State of the Union Address last night. He squandered that chance and delivered a failure of a speech.

The president introduced nothing strikingly new for America. Instead, he reiterated plans of the past, but attempted to mask them through sugar-coated language. It’s nice that he talked about funding programs dealing with HIV, malaria, poverty, corruption, and disrepair at home and abroad. However, he has no intention of actually dealing with these issues in the real world.

This has been a common theme with Bush: he can talk (sometimes), but when it comes to walking – not so much. For example, he suggested a massive focus on poverty after Hurricane Katrina, yet a week later, it had fallen by the wayside. It must have slipped his mind last night as well.

Bush mentioned renewable energy, but cut research funds in his last budget. He emphasized science and math education, but also cut those very funds in his last budget. I applaud his support for recruiting American scientists – it will only create more experts that stand behind the evidence of stem cell research and global climate change.

Moreover, Bush pushed his usual black and white logic to justify violating the Constitution and to demand support for his faltering Iraq policies.

The eruption in the chambers surrounding social security reminded me of a scene out of the British House of Commons. While members of both parties cheered, rabbled and booed, the scenario pointed out the true decline of the Bush administration: last year he was pushing a privatization scheme, but just a year later, he was forced to abandon it in favor of a bipartisan commission to think about developing common solutions.

Bush’s biggest mistake was his lack of a vision – the same problem experienced by his father. Sure, he dreams of a world firmly in line with democracy, and thinks that America should not follow an isolationist path. Every president since WWII has shared these feelings, so that wasn’t surprising.

More significant though, Bush failed to set the stage for a stronger America at home.

To be fair, the Democratic response delivered by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine also failed to outline out a clear vision for the country. Still, it correctly highlighted a common theme surrounding Bush: mismanagement. He failed in the private sector, he failed as governor of Texas, and he has failed at dealing with Katrina, creating jobs, rebuilding Iraq, fixing the deficit, lowering healthcare costs, and solving education woes.

Bush’s 51 minute speech was sadly uninspiring, especially at a time when corruption plagues the halls of Congress and the people desperately need strength in leadership. By upholding common-sense solutions, service, and unity, the Democrats solidly proved at least one thing:

“There is a better way!”


Update: This was printed as a letter to the editor in the Daily Free Press today.