Bush Delivers State of His Presidency Address

President George “LBJ” Bush gave his annual State of the Union Address last night, and what a difference a year makes. Rather than the Texas swagger and the Bush smirk of last year, the world was treated to a president who is in a great deal of trouble and who knows it. Nonetheless, the presidency is nothing if not a bully pulpit, and Mr. Bush used it last night to shore up his base. The Union is fine, the Bush presidency is shaky.

Gone were the grand themes like reforming Social Security to ensure it is solvent till kingdom come. Instead, Mr. Bush offered some tax breaks on medical care and a plea for bipartisanship. Presidents always ask for bipartisanship when they can’t muster a majority from their own party, and while Mr. Bush will never have to face the electorate again, every member of the House and one third of the Senate will in November. They will have to listen to the people, and most of the people are moving away from the president on a lot of issues.

The matter of greatest moment politically is the warrantless wiretapping of US citizens, or as Mr. Bush called it “a terrorist surveillance program.” When couched in the former terms, most citizens are opposed; when labeled as Mr. Bush wants, it is favored by most. Ultimately, this is going to the Supreme Court, which is appropriate since the justices who made him president can destroy his ability to continue as president. If they decide he broke the law, “lame duck” is the best he can achieve. Thus far, though, no one in Washington has really beaten on his one publicly demonstrable lie about this.

In April of 2004, in Buffalo, New York, Mr. Bush said, “Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so.” For two and a half years, he had given and renewed the order to the NSA to wiretap on US citizens with alleged Al Qaeda ties without going to court for that warrant. This is the smoking gun of deceit, and why lie if the law actually permits the NSA to do as it will without a warrant? Mr. Bush signed the order and its many renewals, and he said the line above. He knew it was untrue when he said it, and that makes it a lie, pure and simple.

As for Iraq, it will define his presidency and his place in history. “LBJ” Bush made it clear that he is still in it to win, whatever that may mean at this stage. He did score a point or two for saying, “Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second-guessing is not a strategy.” However, one cannot fix a problem until it is acknowledged as a problem and until one figures out how it came to be. Second-guessing and hindsight may help ensure that the Iraq fiasco is not replicated. As for a strategy to win, first a thing must be possible; given the current military and political realities victory is only possible if it is radically redefined.

The Democrats, who are still trying to decide whether or not they are a party of opposition or of collaboration, gave their response through Virginia’s new governor (he’s been in office about three weeks) Tim Kaine. He was dull and his lack of experience in office telling (why didn’t any big wheel want to talk?). Still, he summed up why patriotic Americans can loyally oppose Mr. Bush at virtually every turn, “The federal government should serve the American people. But that mission is frustrated by this administration’s poor choices and bad judgment.” Even when one agrees with the principles of the White House, there is no disputing that the execution of the plan, time and again, has been pathetic. The failures are legion, and they all stem from poor choices and bad judgment. If he's going to do these damn silly things, must he do them in these damn silly ways? The state of the presidency is shaky, bordering on grave.


© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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