In the second year of his second term, President Bush on Tuesday delivered a consistent message to Americans during his State of the Union Address: The United States must not become “isolationist” in its military and economic power.
War on Terror- He dedicated about half of his speech to the war, but failed to introduce any new information. Bush also neglected to adequately reaffirm our continued presence in Iraq. Troops may eventually come home, he said, but decisions will be left to military officials. As a “nation,” Iraq has “gone form dictatorship to liberation, to sovereignty, to a constitution, to national elections,” Bush said.
His emotional appeals to American nationalism, however, are growing tired. No matter how many times Bush compares our “long war against a determined enemy” to World War II, the situations won’t suddenly become parallel. Today, the U.S. lacks domestic and international support to wage a prolonged campaign or to put up with Bush’s war-related programs; during his speech, he appealed for renewal of the Patriot Act and defended his “terrorist surveillance program” of wiretapping U.S. citizens without warrants.
Education – Bush’s new plan to make American workers competitive – the American Competitiveness Initiative – is a poor showing on the education front. His administration has worked toward significant cuts to federal student aid. Yet his solution is to subsidize private research and development with tax credits and to train more high school math and science teachers. We thought the impetus of private research was profits; subsidized research should be conducted through universities who will (it is hoped) be more willing to make findings open source.
Economy – The U.S. economy has improved, but Bush’s proposal to renew tax cuts while simultaneously cutting the federal deficit in half by 2009 is ludicrous. His appeals to allow U.S. goods to compete freely on the world market also ignores our current trade deficit to Asia and elsewhere.
Oil – Bush’s goal “to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025” by improving electric cars, creating cars that run on hydrogen and making ethanol “practical and competitive within six years” are noble. Hydrogen-powered cars and efficient ethanol remain a long way off, but these are sensible steps forward.
Environment – In a startling shift from his favoritism toward the energy industry, Bush announced the Advanced Energy Initiative, a “22-percent increase in clean-energy research.” He also advocated more zero-emission coal-fired plants and more solar and nuclear energy. These environmental issues should be a no-brainer, and we hope Bush will follow through.
Morality – He denounced “activist courts that try to redefine marriage” and human cloning. With the appointment of conservative Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday, it’s clear any challenges to state laws against gay marriage will have now have slimmer chances before the U.S. Supreme Court.