Lowered Expectations

3 February 2003


State of the Union, C+

President George W. Bush gave his State-of-the-Union address to Congress and received generally good reviews, suggesting that so little is expected of him by anyone that merely giving the speech would count as a success. A better speech was given in rebuttal by Governor Locke of Washington State -- all the more so since he answered the President's speech deftly and clearly with no time afterward to rewrite his own. What a man says ought to count more than how he says it, but Mr. Bush said little enough.

On the domestic front, he wants to cut taxes while running a $200 billion or so deficit. Somehow, he remains a fiscal conservative among his followers. He wants to give the elderly a break on their prescriptions without socializing medicine -- apparently the free market has done so well we must fix its success.

Abroad, he convinced no one of anything regarding Iraq's weapons program. Those who believed that Baghdad should be reduced to a smoking pile of radioactive slag still believe that, and those who blame America for the failings of Arab politicians continue in their racist double-standards.

In his speech, Mr. Bush said nothing new, he reasoned nothing new, and the world should have expected nothing new. Yet somehow, the world was surprised.