SOTU

Posted at 9:44 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2008, in Uncategorized, and tagged bush, iraq.

I managed to sit through the first three-fourths of President Bush’s (potentially) final State of the Union address last night. And it’s a good thing I did, because I didn’t realize how well things were actually going. That is what happens when I get my news through the filtered liberal media. (I should have realized this by now.)

My initial impression from the speech is that Bush would like to cement, or at least form, his legacy as a traditional conservative, calling for permanent tax cuts, decreased spending (with the threat of multiple vetoes even), and if I heard him right, balanced budgets.

His first seven years as president has been the exact opposite. While cutting taxes for the wealthy, neglecting the middle class, he has also heavily increased spending, resulting in extraordinarily out-of-whack budgets, with his party in control, leading to the problems we face as a nation today.

Time for a do-over.

Although plenty of words were spent on the war in Iraq, by starting with and spending considerable time on domestic issues (including the issues mentioned previously), the president — I believe — is looking to distance himself from the chaos he created (if that is all possible). Bush doesn’t have to wait this out much longer to pass the buck to the next president either. Quite a legacy there.

The threat of force on Iran caught me by surprise, because we’ve seen this before, and if the administration wants to attack Iran, they need to start the process right now. What better way than announcing to the American people that Iran has weapons of mass destruction…

Tehran is also developing ballistic missiles of increasing range and continues to develop its capability to enrich uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon. [...] Our message to the leaders of Iran is also clear: Verifiably suspend your nuclear enrichment, so negotiations can begin. And to rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home, and cease your support for terror abroad. But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf.

I think by “vital interests” he means oil, and Halliburton’s stock.

Finally, it seems that the president has drunk the Kool-Aid Al Gore made, accepting climate change as real and a threat, which is a relief. Hopefully, the president’s party will follow suit and we will see progress on this issue. I’m more than certain that evangelicals — the party’s base and ticket to the White House — accepting the issue as a moral one helped change Bush’s opinion on the matter from “there is not enough information” to accepting the science. Either way, this is a step forward. And something that I can tell my children someday: “Yes, your teacher is right. The second President Bush didn’t believe in global warming until his final year, even though the science was widely accepted. Bush was more of a sidekick anyway. Oh, those were the days. Did I ever tell you about Valerie Plame? Sit down, you’ll want to hear this.”

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