Campus reaction to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night split predictably along party lines, with University College Republicans praising Bush for his strong leadership and College Democrats attacking his policies. However, both sides agreed that it was quite a night for politics.
“I love the State of the Union,” said Greg McNeill, University senior and 2002 Republican candidate for Oregon’s 8th House District. “It’s like the Super Bowl of politics.”
More than a dozen College Republicans gathered in the EMU Tuesday night to watch Bush’s speech on Fox News, meeting each highlight with sharp applause.
“He’s a very strong, focused leader,” College Republicans Vice Chairwoman Gabrielle Guidero said, adding that she strongly supported Bush’s proposal to encourage more scientists and engineers to teach part time in high schools.
The 54-minute speech, delivered one year to the day before the next presidential inauguration, began with an overview of the war on terrorism and emphasized the prominent issues of Bush’s term, with fierce defenses of his administration’s policies on everything from the USA PATRIOT Act to his desire to lend government support to religious charities.
McNeill said that watching the State of the Union was different with a Republican in office.
“I was all serious about the State of the Union when Clinton was president,” McNeill said.
But he had no problem relaxing during Bush’s speech, cracking jokes about former President Clinton, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
College Republicans Chairman Jarrett White praised Bush’s leadership.
“His outlook on what America can be and should be in the future is his best quality,” White said. “I thought it was a pretty good speech.”
College Democrats Co-Chairwoman Samantha Bouton sharply disagreed, criticizing Bush’s handling of the economy, Medicare, education, Iraq, civil liberties and sex education.
“Tell the average Oregonian that the economy is getting better and I don’t think that many of them will agree,” she said, citing Oregon’s high
unemployment rate.
One proposal Bush made Tuesday night could directly affect the University — larger Pell Grants for students who prepare for college by taking demanding course loads in high school.
Bouton criticized the idea.
“This is going to bog down the Department of Education in getting grants and loans to students,” Bouton said.
Bouton also denounced Bush’s promotion of abstinence-based education as a “nod to the religious right.”
“Abstinence is the only way to have a classroom full of horny teenagers who don’t know how to use a rubber,” she said.
Bush skirted an issue that will likely emerge during the general election — the absence of weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq — arguing that if Saddam Hussein were allowed to remain in power his “weapons of mass destruction-related program activities” would have continued. This contrasts earlier Bush administration promises before the war in Iraq to find Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
Bush also indirectly criticized Dean, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying, “For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein’s regime is a better and safer place.”
Dean has been heavily criticized for saying last month that Americans “are no safer today than the day the planes struck the World Trade Center,” despite Hussein’s capture.