Top 10 State of the Union Highlights
For those who had the good fortune to miss his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush just offered the American people a stunning profile in rhetorical obfuscation and political comeuppance.
Domestically, his seeming move to the middle on energy, immigration and health care may have alienated his own base while offering some prospect for deals with the Democrats. (Jim Webb's Democratic response is available here.) But in foreign policy and the war in Iraq, President Bush's language was purposely aggressive - and dangerously misguided.
Here, then, are the top 10 highlights of the 2007 Bush State of the Union:
1. The New Equation in Iraq: Fighting All Muslims, Everywhere, All the Time
Far and away the most disturbing aspect of the Bush address was his conscious - and shockingly risky - effort to equate possible foes in Iraq with Islamic extremists across the Muslim world:
"The Shia and Sunni extremists are different faces of the same totalitarian threat. Whatever slogans they chant, when they slaughter the innocent they have the same wicked purposes. They want to kill Americans, kill democracy in the Middle East, and gain the weapons to kill on an even more horrific scale."
Long before mentioning the terms "Iraq" or "Iraqi", Bush established a false equivalence between Sunni extremists in Iraq and Al Qaeda around the world. Similarly, Shiite extremists within Iraq, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, are to Bush all equally Iranian clients posing the same threat to the United States. His 2007 SOTU broke new ground in linking 9/11 to Saddam's Iraq: President Bush tried to justify his "surge" in Iraq by proclaiming new Muslim dragons for the U.S. to slay.
2. Balanced Budget Baloney
The President took credit for meeting his campaign 2004 promise to halve the federal budget deficit by 2009. As I explained yesterday, the White House of course cooked the pre-election books to make the 2005 deficit appear comically - and mythically - large. Bush then went on to mention a plan for balancing the budget within five years. Not, of course, if his tax cuts are made permanent.
3. Health Care on Life Support
In line with expectations, President Bush bowed at the altar of the health care market with proposals to encourage private insurance. He rolled out his plan for offering tax breaks for individuals and families purchasing coverage from private insurers, along with a half-hearted rehash of last year's DOA proposals, health savings accounts (HSAs) and association health plans.
4. Border Disorder
One possible area for bipartisan cooperation is immigration reform. Bush enjoyed a warm Democratic reception with his call to "establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis." But hoping to avoid alienating the xenophobic Sensenbrenner-Tancredo wing of his own party when it comes to the status of illegal aliens, the Republican president offered up the sweetener, "without animosity and without amnesty."
5. No Private School Left Behind
As expected, President bush renewed his call for the reauthorization of his 2001 No Child Left Behind program. Then as now, NCLB is a not-so-thinly veiled attempt to defund public schools for the benefit of private and parochial institutions. How does Bush hope to gut the public education systems now schooling 90% of America's children: "by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose someplace better."
6. Flipping on Conservation
In 2001, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer famously replied to an inquiry about whether the President supported energy conservation by sneering, "that's a big no." Six years and one mid-term electoral disaster later, President Bush set a goal to cut Americans' gasoline consumption by 20% within 10 years.
7. No Flopping on Global Warming
Contrary to reports that the born-again President Bush would experience a born-again conversion on the subject of global warming, it did not come to pass. Instead, Bush offered one pusillanimous mention of GOP language guru Frank Lutz' focus-group tested term, "global climate change."
8. Black Allies in the Gallery, Not on the Floor
Unsurprisingly, the Republicans on the floor may have been devoid of African-American membership, but not President Bush's human interest props in the gallery. Half of Bush's four guest exhibits were black, including Congolese NBA star Dukembe Motombo and New York subway hero Wesley Autrey.
9. Use the Troops for Cover
As is always his practice, President Bush used the troops for cover in facing a hostile Congress and cleavages within his own party. Reversing course on his sneering dismissal of John Kerry's 2004 pledge to expand the military, President Bush asked for 92,000 new troops for the Army and Marines. Hoping to break the silence following his explication of the "surge" in Iraq, the President turned to a certain applause line, "Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work. And I ask you to support our troops in the field, and those on their way." Later, Bush praised Iraq Silver Star recipient and gallery prop Sergeant Tommy Rieman, who though grievously wounded, "used his body as a shield to protect his gunner." Bush, of course, wanted Rieman's body to protect his president.
10. No Red Meat for Red Staters
Showing the back of his hand to his evangelical base, President Bush offered none of the usual drumbeat of flags, fags and fetuses to the radical religious right. Just three days after proclaiming "National Sanctity of Human Life Day," Bush was silent on abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage and other "culture of life" hot buttons so near and dear to his Christian conservative base.
The 2007 speech and all six previous Bush SOTU addresses are available here.
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It's quite simple: a WISE MAN makes complicated stuff easy, an idiot makes easy stuff complicated. Bush can make Paris Hilton look like a wizzkid.
Posted by Jericho on January 24, 2007 8:10 AMI can't believe the water drinking thing is not in the Top 10 State of the Union Highlights !!!
Posted by Ana on January 24, 2007 1:14 PMBush and Chenney coordinated a synchronized water drink during the address. I bet that if Chenney were to drink water by himself, we would hear no sound coming from Bush.
I had to work during the SOTU (thank God for small favors), but I'm happy to have this excellent Perrspective and summation. Thanks. And WHAT a bunch of BS that healthcare "plan" is!!!!
Posted by Jukesgrrl on January 25, 2007 10:01 PMI've never read such freakin bilge
Posted by ballstoyourperrspective on July 25, 2007 1:59 AMTHANX FOR SAVING US..
Posted by kai on January 30, 2008 11:10 AM