Monday, January 27, 2003

The State of the Onion Address

Tonight, resident Bush will deliver his state of the union address.
According to news reports, he will attempt to assuage the public's doubts about the war with Iraq, and sell his plans for tax cuts and a Medicare overhaul.
Then he'll throw in something about prescription drugs for the elderly. The thing is, he's already had years and years to keep that promise, and he hasn't.
Here are some challenges he'll have to address.
According to recent national surveys:
• More than half - 53 percent - responding to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press said the resident has not yet explained clearly what is at stake to justify war with Iraq.
• Opinion surveys show that support for military action against Iraq is at its lowest level ever among the British public. As our greatest allies, Bush will have to justify his assumption that the UK will fall in line. He may have to also address the dearth of support among our other allies.
• In the United States, the public has grown increasingly skeptical about Bush's handling of the economy, with 44 percent approving of his economic stewardship and 49 percent disapproving in an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll.
• Only 35 percent in that poll said they expect Bush's $674 billion, 10-year stimulus plan - most of that committed to tax cuts - will be very effective or ''fairly effective'' at helping the economy.

Seems like the rest of the country is starting to see what some of us have seen for a while now. The resident doesn't know what he's doing and he's in over his head.
War with Iraq is still puzzling. Saddam arose from the shadows to suddenly become Public Enemy #1, and I still can't figure out why he replaced Osama Bin Laden for that dubious distinction.
The budget is rocketing toward the toilet. Tax incentives like write-offs for giant SUVs and trucks for small business owners make absolutely no sense.
Medicare cuts will hurt the neediest people and cause many to be deprived of life sustaining treatments and medicines. As I said earlier, if prescriptions for the elderly were truly a priority for the Bush administration, they've had ample time to get it done.

Bush can talk a good game about what he has planned for us, but the fact is, he's not coming from a place of strength and leadership. Talk is cheap.
His agenda is nebulous, if not downright mysterious.
I can't think of one thing he's pushed that serves my needs as a tax paying American citizen.

Our country is strong enough to weather this storm called the Bush administration.
He'll leave office with great damage left in his wake and it'll take years to repair what he's screwed up.
I can think of nothing his administration has contributed to make life better for Americans.
Hear me now and believe me later.

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