My fellow Americans, the state of our union is booooooriiiiiing.
Bush’s SOTU was about an hour’s worth of fluffy inarguable statements with very little in the area of specific policy initiatives. Freedom! Education! Rights! Liberty! Lead the World! Okay, sounds good. How and with what money?
The opening was a kind tribute to Coretta Scott King with a shameless cut to that black guy in Congress, then to another black guy in Congress, then back to that first black guy in Congress. President Bush praised Mrs. King as a “woman who called America to its founding ideals and carried on a noble dream.” Of course, part of carrying on that dream was being an outspoken opponent of W and pointing out the Republicans’ record on civil rights.
Then there was that strange wording on the proclamation of the state of the union. Usually presidents say some variation of, “The state of the union is strong!” with unapologetic bravado. Clinton’s favorite opening line was always “The state of the union is the strongest it has ever been!” But Bush very meekly said, “The state of the union is strong and we can make it stronger.” That seemed to set the tone for what would follow; an oratory exercise in aw shucks, things aint so bad.
The best part was the Democrats’ impromptu raucous when Bush mentioned his failure to privatize social security. The president did not expect such a huge amount of applause after that line and you could tell it pissed him off. Also of note, Hillary’s facial expression when he talked about domestic spying. We watched it on MSNBC so I’m not sure if other networks caught that priceless moment but damn, it was one of the best ‘fuck you’ faces I’ve ever seen.
There were tepid little sops to the religious right (we have fewer abortions, activist judges want to redefine marriage) but nothing in the way of bowing to them. Progress? No federal marriage amendment was mentioned or late term abortion ban touted.
One of the few specific things he did target was human animal hybrids. Glad he’s on the watch for those guys because that was the one issue keeping me up at night.
He talked about ending our addiction to foreign oil and developing alternative energy sources. Good, good. He talked about kids having a better chance to go to college. Good, good. And he talked about better healthcare for everyone. Great. I just don’t understand why the Texan oilman, Saudi connected, Pell Grant cutting, Intelligent Design endorsing, Medicare reform opposing President is touting these things. Alternative energy, education, and healthcare are wonderful areas to advance. But his administration fought against such forward thinking. Am I missing something?
His whole speech reminded me of the song Happy Talk from South Pacific. Keep talking about good things while you’re in denial about your shitty situation. “Happy talkie-talkie, keep talking happy talk. Talk about things you like to doooo.” Bush can talk all he wants about big ideas and a stronger union. I haven’t been asleep the past five years. The feel good speech doesn’t mask his crappy record or make his troubles less severe.
