The State of Your Union
Last week the President stood before your Congress and country to deliver his plan for the coming year during his State of the Union address. Because Bush wrongly considers 53% an overwhelming mandate, we expected him to pick a fight with Iran, throw insults at North Korea and rhetorically ask Ted Kennedy if his car has killed anyone lately. Instead, we were somewhat shocked at the lack of shocking somewhats in this annual Presidential stand-up routine.
The Economy: Same old story. Bush promised to cut the decific in half by 2009 and spend more wisely. Sounds easy enough, until you remember we're in the middle of not one but two armed conflicts. The BDS will personally have words with anyone who screams for a tax cut while our nation's finest are screaming for Kevlar vest over the sounds of mortar fire. The balance will come, according to 43, by substantially reducing or eliminating over 150 government programs that a) aren't working, b) are redundant or c) make no sense in the first place. Recent word in DC has Bush wanting to cut $587 million worth of farm subsidies from the 2002 Farm Bill and reduce overall farm aid by $5.7 billion over the next 10 years. The best thing about this short-sided, idiotic budget cut is how unlikely it is to pass through Congress; the Farm Bill governs spending through 2007 and any change would require the bill to be opened and amended, a task that Congress simply won't do (Thank God). To keep the economy rolling, Bush also urged Congress to pass tort reform, but we envision the Bradley A. Pistotniks and Rodney D. Youngs of the planet fighting this, funny as it sounds, in court. Overall, the economy seems in fair shape. And if it's as bad as the Donkeys say it is, ask them why homeownership is at its highest level in history. Then ask yourself why you're not saving thousands by refinancing your mortgage with Jeff.
Immigration: This hot-button topic just got a little saucier. Bush wants an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take. However, he's also on record as being in favor of granting limited amnesty to undocumented workers who are here illegally. In other words, those who broke the law to come here would be rewarded. Surprisingly, one of the largest blocks of anti-amnesty proponents are hispanics who played the game legally. They applied for a visa, got a job, paid taxes, booed Alex Rodriguez during the Sox series and busted their tailes to get citizenship the right way. They feel a blanket amnesty for those who did it all illegally belittles their accomplishments. We agree.
Social Security: The third rail of politics. Bush told us the current system will crash in 2042; by 2018 it will pay out more than in takes in. Anyone familiar with the term "Baby Boomers" knows why. But the Democrats, on the other early bird special, claim the system isn't broke at all, which makes you wonder how many times it took THEM to pass Math 002. Bush threw out a variety of options: indexing benefits to prices rather than wages, increasing the retirement age, discouraging early collection of benefits, even changing the way benefits are calculated. The only item not on the table? Increasing payroll taxes. 43 also encouraged younger workers to bank on a personal retirement/savings account rather than social security. He promises a better return on your investment if you do. Sound interesting? Talk to Craig. He'll help you out.
War on Terrorism: Let's see if we got this straight. Numerous governmental agencies missed the signs and/or dropped the ball leading up to 9/11. So what do we do? We make another government agency. Short of that "we need another meeting to discuss the meeting we just had that discussed the meeting we'll have tomorrow" mentality often displayed inside the Beltway after a disaster, Bush has done an admirable job on this front. He also calmed many fears across the globe regarding our involvement in the affairs of others: "The United States has no right, no desire and no intention to impose our form of governmnet on anyone else." For the WWF crowd? "Once we kill all the bad guys, we're coming back home."
"Thank you.": But the most talked-about moment of the entire night happened late in the game. An Iraqi woman, one who voted for the first time ever in the recent elections, turned to embrace a woman clutching the dogtags of her Marine son who was killed in Iraq. The Iraqi woman thanks her for sacrificing her son, but you couldn't hear that over the thunderous applause from Congress that held the speech up for almost two minutes. The more cynical pundants claim the moment was staged; that it was the biggest PR coup in recent history. Visibily shaken at this impromptu act of thankfulness, the same chill that obviously ran down the back of the President ran down ours, too. Staged my ass.
Bottom line? It was a speech without surprises. It was safe. Expected. Sure, there were a few memorable moments, but it will be remembered most for its lack of memorable moments. Bush knows he has four years left to cement his legacy and, through this speech, he knows he has to have the full support of Congress to make it worthwhile. That's why he didn't overtly piss anyone off. He stepped on few toes and no landmines. He simply reach across the aisle and said "let's get to work". By the end of this year, we'll see if anyone in Congress stayed awake long enough during the speech to hear that.
The Economy: Same old story. Bush promised to cut the decific in half by 2009 and spend more wisely. Sounds easy enough, until you remember we're in the middle of not one but two armed conflicts. The BDS will personally have words with anyone who screams for a tax cut while our nation's finest are screaming for Kevlar vest over the sounds of mortar fire. The balance will come, according to 43, by substantially reducing or eliminating over 150 government programs that a) aren't working, b) are redundant or c) make no sense in the first place. Recent word in DC has Bush wanting to cut $587 million worth of farm subsidies from the 2002 Farm Bill and reduce overall farm aid by $5.7 billion over the next 10 years. The best thing about this short-sided, idiotic budget cut is how unlikely it is to pass through Congress; the Farm Bill governs spending through 2007 and any change would require the bill to be opened and amended, a task that Congress simply won't do (Thank God). To keep the economy rolling, Bush also urged Congress to pass tort reform, but we envision the Bradley A. Pistotniks and Rodney D. Youngs of the planet fighting this, funny as it sounds, in court. Overall, the economy seems in fair shape. And if it's as bad as the Donkeys say it is, ask them why homeownership is at its highest level in history. Then ask yourself why you're not saving thousands by refinancing your mortgage with Jeff.
Immigration: This hot-button topic just got a little saucier. Bush wants an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take. However, he's also on record as being in favor of granting limited amnesty to undocumented workers who are here illegally. In other words, those who broke the law to come here would be rewarded. Surprisingly, one of the largest blocks of anti-amnesty proponents are hispanics who played the game legally. They applied for a visa, got a job, paid taxes, booed Alex Rodriguez during the Sox series and busted their tailes to get citizenship the right way. They feel a blanket amnesty for those who did it all illegally belittles their accomplishments. We agree.
Social Security: The third rail of politics. Bush told us the current system will crash in 2042; by 2018 it will pay out more than in takes in. Anyone familiar with the term "Baby Boomers" knows why. But the Democrats, on the other early bird special, claim the system isn't broke at all, which makes you wonder how many times it took THEM to pass Math 002. Bush threw out a variety of options: indexing benefits to prices rather than wages, increasing the retirement age, discouraging early collection of benefits, even changing the way benefits are calculated. The only item not on the table? Increasing payroll taxes. 43 also encouraged younger workers to bank on a personal retirement/savings account rather than social security. He promises a better return on your investment if you do. Sound interesting? Talk to Craig. He'll help you out.
War on Terrorism: Let's see if we got this straight. Numerous governmental agencies missed the signs and/or dropped the ball leading up to 9/11. So what do we do? We make another government agency. Short of that "we need another meeting to discuss the meeting we just had that discussed the meeting we'll have tomorrow" mentality often displayed inside the Beltway after a disaster, Bush has done an admirable job on this front. He also calmed many fears across the globe regarding our involvement in the affairs of others: "The United States has no right, no desire and no intention to impose our form of governmnet on anyone else." For the WWF crowd? "Once we kill all the bad guys, we're coming back home."
"Thank you.": But the most talked-about moment of the entire night happened late in the game. An Iraqi woman, one who voted for the first time ever in the recent elections, turned to embrace a woman clutching the dogtags of her Marine son who was killed in Iraq. The Iraqi woman thanks her for sacrificing her son, but you couldn't hear that over the thunderous applause from Congress that held the speech up for almost two minutes. The more cynical pundants claim the moment was staged; that it was the biggest PR coup in recent history. Visibily shaken at this impromptu act of thankfulness, the same chill that obviously ran down the back of the President ran down ours, too. Staged my ass.
Bottom line? It was a speech without surprises. It was safe. Expected. Sure, there were a few memorable moments, but it will be remembered most for its lack of memorable moments. Bush knows he has four years left to cement his legacy and, through this speech, he knows he has to have the full support of Congress to make it worthwhile. That's why he didn't overtly piss anyone off. He stepped on few toes and no landmines. He simply reach across the aisle and said "let's get to work". By the end of this year, we'll see if anyone in Congress stayed awake long enough during the speech to hear that.
posted by TheBDS at 9:30 AM
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