Community leaders praised parts of President Bush’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night, but were hesitant to fully endorse the speech made by our nation’s leader.
“Tonight, I stand firm with the president and say clearly that America is united to protect and preserve our freedom,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Eugene. “While we differ in the details, I look forward to working with the administration and my colleagues to resolve our differences and move forward on these important issues for Oregon and our nation.”
DeFazio’s “important issues” include legislation to stimulate the economy, provide unemployment assistance and come up with new energy legislation — all of which Bush detailed, albeit briefly, during his hour-long speech.
State Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, said Bush didn’t spend enough time hashing out the details.
“I didn’t hear anything tonight that told me what direction this country is going to take to fight the recession,” Walker said. “He gave a very strong, patriotic message, but I didn’t see much beyond that.”
Stephen Haynes, a professor of economics at the University, said Bush’s address was uniquely suited to the events that occurred over the past year.
“It’s a little different than a standard State of the Union,” Haynes said. “It would have been interesting to compare it to (President Franklin Roosevelt’s) speech in 1942,” he said, since Roosevelt gave his address to a nation that faced a similar recession in a comparably war-like time.
Journalism Professor Stephen Ponder said the image Bush projected was the most important part of his address.
“These State of the Union addresses have become very important,” Ponder said. “The president’s success will depend on his ability to use the mass media.”
Bush used his hour of prime-time to focus on fighting terrorism, increasing homeland defense and helping the economy recover.
“We have prevailed in the war, and we will defeat this recession,” Bush said. As a start to defeating the recession, the president appealed to Congress to “make these tax cuts permanent.” Half the room gave this comment a standing ovation while Democrats remained seated and silent.
“The president said we all need to work together; I am anxious to work with him to get Oregonians back to work,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Tim Young, student representative for the Oregon University System, said Bush’s priorities may be “a little misguided.”
“We need to see more attention put toward education and an adequate health plan,” Young said. Referring to the economy, Young added that Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan “said this type of incentive would not work.”
Haynes said that Bush didn’t need to go into economic specifics because his policies were already in effect.
“There’s not a great deal one can do except wait for the policies to take place,” Haynes said.
Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey said Bush will be evaluated this year on the performance of the economy.
“If we don’t see some improvement in the economy, he’s in trouble,” Torrey said. “If we’re going to move anything through Congress, the president and the Senate have got to agree with what’s going to be done. They simply have to find a way to find some common ground.”