[NYTr] The State of the Union (NYTimes Edit'l)
ny...@olm.blythe-systems.com
[The Times editorializes on Bush's rather pathetic State of the Union.
It's true he did not mention Katrina, as Ed notes. But we were also
spared any advertising of "faith-based" initiatives to solve social
and economic problems. Bush also stayed far away from foreign heroes
like the Iraqi exile of the year, whom he's been pitching as a regular
thing in these speeches. This year, the most we got was some entrepreneur
businesswoman who just sold some kids' video company to Dizzney. At any
rate, The New York Times seems to think we have two parties, and not One
Party with Two Names running the show in the US. -NYTr]
sent by Ed Pearl
[A regularly updated list of Jan 27th anti-war events is posted on:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org , currently approaching 100 cities.
And Bush did not even MENTION Katrina/New Orleans recovery. -Ed]
The New York Times - Jan 24, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/opinion/24wed1.html
The State of the Union
The White House spin ahead of George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union
address was that the president would make a bipartisan call to revive his
domestic agenda with "bold and innovative concepts." The problem with that
was obvious last night - in six years, Mr. Bush has shown no interest in
bipartisanship, and his domestic agenda was set years ago, with huge tax
cuts for wealthy Americans and crippling debt for the country.
Combined with the mounting cost of the war in Iraq, that makes boldness and
innovation impossible unless Mr. Bush truly changes course. And he gave no
hint of that last night. Instead, he offered up a tepid menu of ideas that
would change little: a health insurance notion that would make only a tiny
dent in a huge problem. More promises about cutting oil consumption with
barely a word about global warming. And the same lip service about
immigration reform on which he has failed to deliver.
At times, Mr. Bush sounded almost as if he'd gotten the message of the 2006
elections. "Our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on -
as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be
done," he said.
But we've heard that from Mr. Bush before. In early 2001, he promised to
bring Americans together and instead embarked on his irresponsible tax cuts,
a divisive right-wing social agenda and a neo-conservative foreign policy
that tore up international treaties and alienated even America's closest
allies. In the wake of 9/11, Mr. Bush had a second chance to rally the
nation - and the world - only to squander it on a pointless, catastrophic
war in Iraq. Mr. Bush promised bipartisanship after his re-election in 2004,
and again after Hurricane Katrina. Always, he failed to deliver. He did not
even mention New Orleans last night.
When Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, Mr. Bush's only
real interest was in making their majority permanent; consultation meant
telling the Democrats what he had decided.
Neither broken promises nor failed policies changed Mr. Bush's mind. So the
nation has been saddled with tax cuts that have turned a budget surplus into
a big deficit, education reform that has been badly managed and
underfinanced, far-right judges with scant qualifications, the dismantling
of regulations in order to benefit corporations at the expense of workers,
and a triumph of ideology over science in policy making on the environment
and medical research. All along, Americans' civil liberties and the
constitutional balance have been trampled by a president determined to
assert ever more power.
Now that the Democrats have taken Congress, Mr. Bush is acting as if he'd
had the door to compromise open all along and the Democrats had refused to
walk through it.
Last night, Mr. Bush also acted as if he were really doing something to help
the 47 million people in this country who don't have health insurance. What
he offered, by the White House's own estimate, would take a few million off
that scandalously high number and shift the burden to the states. Mr. Bush's
plan would put a new tax on Americans who were lucky enough to still have
good health-care coverage through their employers. Some large portion of
those are middle class and represented by the labor unions that Mr. Bush and
the Republicans are dedicated to destroying.
Mr. Bush's comments on Iraq added nothing to his failed policies. He did, at
last, propose a permanent increase in the size of the Army and Marines that
would repair some of the damage he has done to those forces. But that would
take years, and it would do nothing to halt Iraq's spiral. Mr. Bush failed
to explain how he would pay for a larger force, which would almost certainly
require cutting budget-busting weapons programs. That would mean going up
against the arms industry and its lobbyists - something Mr. Bush has never
been willing to do.
Mr. Bush almost certainly didn't intend it, but his speech did reinforce one
vital political fact - that it's not just up to him anymore. There was a big
change last night: the audience. Instead of solid Republican majorities
marching in lock step with the White House, Congress is controlled by
Democrats. It will be their task to give leadership to a nation that
desperately wants change and expects its leaders to work together to deliver
it. The Democrats' challenge will be to form real coalitions with willing
Republicans. If they do, Mr. Bush may even be forced, finally, to
compromise.
Say what you will about the flaws and shortcomings of the two-party system.
After six years of the Bush presidency, at least we know it's a lot better
than the one-party system.
*
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