President's State of the Union Address

President Bush delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress while Vice President Dick Cheney (L) and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R) look on at the U.S. Capitol in Washington January 31, 2006. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool/Reuters)

Well, it looks like we've survived another of President Bush's State of the Union address. Here's the full text of the speech.

Reading this speech now in its transcript form, I'm struck by how similar it is to last year's SOTU speech--Freedom is on the march! We're on the road to victory in Iraq! Bush even provides his supporting soldier's parting remarks in a letter--before he was killed of course--saying, Never falter, stay the course, support the troops. In this case, it was Marine Staff Sergeant Dan Clay, who was killed in Fallujah--with his family sitting in on the speech, for the TV cameras to show. In last year's State of the Union, it was Marine Corps Sergeant Byron Norwood of Pflugerville, Texas--also killed in Fallujah. And Norwood's family was there as well for the TV cameras.

Could there be a pattern here? If you're a Marine stationed in Iraq, my advice to you is don't get killed in Fallujah--or your family might have to sit through President Bush's SOTU speech next year for the TV cameras.

The rest of this speech seemed like it was same ole, same ole. Bush still claims that Congress authorized him to domestically spy on American citizens--although now instead of calling this a domestic spying program, or illegal NSA wiretaps, Bush in now naming his program a "terrorist surveillance program." His economic policy is still based on the tired old tax cuts as stimulus. He's still trying to push his Social Security privatization program--even though that program is DOA. And now we have another program called "Health Savings Accounts," which is nothing more than the Social Security privatization program modified to replace employee-provided health insurance programs. I did find Bush's comment that America is addicted to oil to be somewhat interesting. President Bush wants to increase research into hybrid technologies, ethanol fuels, and alternative energy uses. Gee, Mr. President--why didn't you propose this five years ago, beforevice president Cheney went on his little energy task force jaunt with his Big Oil friends? It is ironic that Bush is now starting to talk about hybrid technologies, when Ford and GM are already approaching bankruptcy, and Americans are now buying up Toyota Prius' instead of Ford Explorers, or GM Suburbans.

What we saw here isn't another speech on the "state of the union," but rather a campaign speech built up on false promises and empty dreams. This was a speech designed to kick off the Republican campaign to maintain control of Congress during the midterm elections. Ironically--did you see any references in Bush's speech regarding Jack Abramoff or the corruption probes against the Republicans? I didn't. This speech was a rehash of tired old ideas, mixed with false comments of strength, leadership, and decisiveness. You're either with us or against us. This speech could have been made as a stump speech at any campaign stop.

The unfortunate irony is that the Bush White House could never transition for campaigning to governing. The proposals he's made are the same proposals for the last five years--even though the American public has rejected some of these proposals, such as Social Security privatization. President Bush has never been able to adapt his presidency to new challenges of Katrina, the burgeoning federal deficit, the growing Iraqi insurgency, Iraninian nuclear weapons program, or the wave of anti-Americanism sweeping through the world. We get the same feel-good message we've gotten for the past couple of years, even though a cancerous sickness is creeping through this country. Bush has never bothered reaching out in true bipartisanship to the Democrats, instead using the word "bipartisanship" as nothing more than a rubber-stamp for whatever he demands. And any White House need for a bipartisanship now with the Democrats will be met with suspicion--especially since this is an election year. It is not enough to say that President Bush has been living in a bubble, or a fantasy-land with pots of gold lying at the end of rainbows, unicorns prancing around lands of milk, honey and gumdrops, where King George lives in a Camelot-style castle ready to provide his divine right of rule. The pots of gold have been looted by King George's courtiers, the unicorns have become extinct as a result of businesses exploitation of milk, honey and gumdrops. And the Camelot castle is crumbling due to King George's incompetence, while hoards of barbarians have encroached into the kingdom. This has become the real state of the union.

You have to wonder when King George will even wake up from his delusions?