The audience for President Bush’s second State of the Union broke into applause 77 times during his address last night, but that certainly does not reflect on his public speaking skills or the soundness of his foreign or domestic policy.
Though appropriately addressing domestic issues first, recognizing that he cannot forget about American’s problems while fighting the world’s, Bush failed to articulate real plans for his four goals to improve the economy, provide quality health care, protect the environment and ‘apply the compassion of America to the deepest problems of America.’
Bush’s economic plans stressed tax cuts, but the economy needs a direct impetus rather than supply-side ‘voodoo’ economics of the 1980s. The demands on our government are higher than ever, and it desperately needs revenue to fulfill the promises Bush made later in the address.
Health care is one of this country’s largest problems, but Bush glossed over the issue by vaguely promising to return control of health care to doctors and patients. He devoted far more of his speech to AIDS in Africa a legitimate problem deserving attention than to helping the 40 million Americans without adequate health insurance.
Bush’s thoughts on the environment thankfully did not mention drilling for oil in Alaska, instead focusing on alternative energy. Proposing $1.2 billion in research for hydrogen-powered cars showed that Bush is serious about reducing air pollution and fuel consumption.
For Bush’s fourth goal, he proposed a mentoring program for children of prisoners and mentioned reducing drug addiction, but left the rest of compassion applying to passing his faith-based initiatives. This was in addition to at least six other religious references, ignoring that many Americans believe in a non-Christian God, or none at all. The faith-based initiatives are a dangerous blurring of church and state, and many of non-profit organizations do not want the full responsibility of caring for America’s welfare.
The first foreign issue Bush tackled was AIDS treatment and prevention, which is a serious issue the world must confront. Asking Congress to provide $15 billion for this is a step in the right direction, especially considering the embarrassing fact that the United States gives only a fraction of one percent of its GDP to foreign aid. America should lead by example and encourage others to follow, but Bush should not forget what he has already done to damage the situation by defending international property rights that make AIDS drugs unaffordable for poor countries and taking money away from groups that encourage condom use if they mention abortion as well.
During Bush’s discussion on the war on terror, he made a show of capturing terrorists and failed to emphasize that terrorism is alive and well and the United States must continue its work. He also used terrorism as an unsubstantiated segue into his update on last year’s ‘Axis of Evil.’ Though he provided convincing evidence against Iraq, he should not have stressed an inconclusive link to terrorism.
Although North Korea has admitted to having nuclear weapons, he only devoted a few minutes to the situation. While dealing with a Communist nation with nuclear weapons is far more familiar to Americans, and Korea is surrounded by nations more friendly with the United States, Bush did not present any sort of concrete plans to deal with the situation. The United States should not selectively apply harsh justice to one nation suspected of dealing with terrorists while staying open to negotiations with another.
By far, the largest portion of the address dealt with growing tensions concerning Iraq. Bush rightly gave a timetable for future action by announcing that the United Nations Security Council will convene on Feb. 5 to discuss the issue. However, he also confirmed that he is willing to move ahead regardless of whether the United Nations goes with him. Though Bush needs to let his public know his intents, he already convinced them that a future war will go more smoothly if America has the strength of the United Nations. behind it. Next week’s meeting can not be a mere pre-war ceremony, but an honest effort to work with the United Nations.
In the approximately hour-long speech, Bush left out several important issues. Along with a clear plan to ensure Social Security lasts or any new ventures to improve education, Bush neglected the Israel-Palestine situation except for one short sentence. This glaring omission fails to address a major problem in the area he plans to attack. Without a solution for peace there, it is difficult to claim a regime change in Iraq will bring stability to the region while other non-democratic Arab leaders use the conflict to distract their people and criticize the United States.
In the address, Bush tackled many issues afflicting America and the world. However, he ignored many important ones and vaguely addressed others. Though many of his ideas could help America and reduce terrorism, Bush ultimately failed to provide the specific details to implement most of them.
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