The game is up -- Bush's final State of the Union address is over. All things considered, it may have been his worst one yet. Gone is the command of the podium we witnessed in 2003 and 2004 -- the President stumbled routinely throughout. Gone is any conviction of having broken political ground. Gone even is the opportunity to have fun at the President's expense: Bush has long ceased to make us laugh with his clumsy leadership. Now all we feel is sad -- sad at the dreary incompetence of the past eight years, sad at all the opportunities we thwarted, sad for the way the United States could be right now if things had gone a little differently.
In 2000 Bush declared he'd come to Washington to change the tone and forge bipartisan consensus. Tonight we saw that same man, seven years later, throw up his hands and tacitly admit he has failed. To be sure, there were gestures of compromise -- the insistence on an independent Palestinian state, a rational plan to solve the immigration program, and an affirmation that global warming is indeed a problem. Bush has come around on several important things. But tonight's speech was chiefly a laundry list of recycled talking points, none of them more than momentarily stirring, all spoken in misleadingly uncontroversial terms.
A popular Democratic candidate talks relentlessly about hope for the future. But I didn't feel hope tonight. Did he? Did anybody?
In 2000 Bush declared he'd come to Washington to change the tone and forge bipartisan consensus. Tonight we saw that same man, seven years later, throw up his hands and tacitly admit he has failed. To be sure, there were gestures of compromise -- the insistence on an independent Palestinian state, a rational plan to solve the immigration program, and an affirmation that global warming is indeed a problem. Bush has come around on several important things. But tonight's speech was chiefly a laundry list of recycled talking points, none of them more than momentarily stirring, all spoken in misleadingly uncontroversial terms.
A popular Democratic candidate talks relentlessly about hope for the future. But I didn't feel hope tonight. Did he? Did anybody?
5 Comments:
blah blah blah
This blog is WAAAY to partisan for an organization that is suppose to remain neutral.
"the insistence on an independent Palestinian state" isn't a compromise
remain neutral?
are you talking about the primary or the general?
also note the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog. this is hear for our members to sound off and contribute their opinions to the online dialogue, it doesn't represent the opinions of the group as a whole.
Thanks for the back-up, Oliver. My understanding has always followed from the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, too.
I will just throw out another shout of support to Eric here. If you disagree with him post a clear and well thought out response. I am sure he would love nothing more than to have a great discussion on this blog.
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