State of the Union 2003
By Page W. H. Brousseau IV
TIMES STAFF WRITER
President Bush delivered his State of the Union address on January 28. The speech was divided into two parts: Domestic and Iraq.
State of the Union addresses are never a platform used to detail new proposals, instead, they are used to give Congress, and the nation, a "laundry list" of proposals the president would like enacted. This provides the president the ability to list every wish without having to explain. Pres. Bush said he wished to increase AIDS treatment in Africa by billions, increase funding on research of hydrogen power cars, and provide a manageable Medicare system with prescription drug coverage, all without explaining how to fund these worthy goals. He told Congress it needed to limit it self to a 4% growth in spending, however, a 4% in spending would have been more welcomed to those on the right as the proposal to make all income tax cuts pasted in 2001 accelerated and permanent.
Other programs he proposed are far less expensive, yet no less important. One program is designed to give children of prisoners a mentor to help guide their young lives, another focus on drug treatment for addicts. I believe that both these programs are designed to reach the elusive black vote Pres. Bush has said he is after for reelection.
Iraq
Pres. Bush started out the second half of the speech by saying, "The course of this nation does not depend on the decision of others." Pres. Bush tried to send a message to Iraq and the world that the United States views Iraq as a direct treat to security and will act accordingly.
Former South African president, Nelson Mandela, promptly called Pres. Bush a "madman" with the goal of world Armageddon on his mind. Veteran White House correspondent, Helen Thomas, called Pres. Bush "the worst president ever," and London newspapers are comparing Pres. Bush and his administration to Hitler and the Nazis of the mid 1930s. All of this leaves me dumb founded, just as I am sure when these crackpots will be when their wacko scenarios of world destruction come to naught.
I have never been a fan of State of the Union speeches, but the last half of Pres. Bush's was historic in that it marked, in plain detail, his position on Iraq and willingness to go to war to eliminate that threat. In order to avoid war, I pray Hussein will step down, or be shot in the back, but a world with him in it is immensely more dangerous then one without. In the meantime, I am planning on creating a fund to pay for Helen Thomas' and Nelson Mandela's one-way plane ticket to Baghdad to join their friends as Volunteer Human Shields. Any takers?
© The Michigan Times 2003
