My Full Take on the SOTU
In a forgettable speech, George Bush described an America that has been challenged mightily over the past seven years, but one whose self government is strong enough to answer all challenges. And by the way, after over 200 years of freedom and self government, don’t you think its time to stop using the mantle of liberty as an excuse for ineffective government? The Western Europeans are as free as we, and their governments are much more responsive! This year the fear is over a faltering economy; Bush tried to exploit this be making another pitch that his tax cuts be made permanent, he even sneered at those who suggest that higher taxes are ok by joking that the IRS accepts both checks money orders. The meaning behind his joke is simple, he knows better and has no respect for those with whom he disagrees. And by the way, to our sneering jokester, those of us who think that the tax law is skewed to help the investor class – and there are a lot of us, we want the tax burden to be heaviest on those who benefit the most from our economy!
Wall Street and Main Street are screaming about the looming recession, and the President and Congress have come up with a tax rebate scheme (but no plans to increase unemployed or to help the poor, who will no doubt fare even worse as the crumbs that trickle down get fewer and fewer). And isn’t it ironic that a president who is unable to hear the cries of the poor comes to life at the cries of well healed citizens whose investments are tanking.
Other than that, the speech was replete with leftovers. In the domestic front, he told us that his budget (if we project forward after he leaves office) delivers a balanced budget by 2012. Of course that’s a lie. He omits the cost of perpetual war, and he makes no plan for the loss of revenue that will occur if his tax cuts are made permanent. On a smaller note, he somehow plans to extract ever more savings from Medicare!
Then we have his trumpeting of No Child Left Behind. He stated that black and Hispanic children are succeeding as never before. Yet achievement under NCLB is minimal, most (all?) can be tied to initiatives that were begun earlier. What NCLB has fostered instead is a race to the bottom as state re-define down grade level standard. In one report, 4th grade kids in Massachusetts were asked to read and interpret a passage from Tolstoy, while kids in Alabama were expected to read something almost as simple as SEE SCOTT RUN. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18632834
Finally, we have National Security (and please read this story in the Times). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/washington/01guard.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=national+guard&st=nyt&oref=slogin The story suggests that with our army, arms and armament in Iraq, we are no longer capable of defending ourselves. Thus, with the war in Iraq, our goalie has left the net!
The Iraq war (and the GWOT) are not going well, no matter the limited success of the troop surge. Yes, Iraq is a bit more stable, but everyone agrees, it will collapse as soon as we leave. And our partners in the middle east (and Western Asia) are a curious bunch. The Pakistanis have as much sympathy for the Taliban as they do for us, and our other partners, such as Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, are dictatorships where democracy is seen as dangerous. Our one true friend over there, Israel, is an albatross around our neck. As much as Israel may deserve our support, their inability to create a mutual peace with the Palestinians makes our support a cause for further instability.
The speech represents what it is, the dregs of a disappointing seven years.
