State of the Union: Focus on Taxes, Economy, Iraq

President Bush’s State of the Union Address

The President sounds more like a man expecting to leave his presidency on top rather than sticking to the lame-duck role that the American people assigned him in 2006.

“It’s the economy, stupid” — President Bill Clinton

In listening to President Bush’s State of the Union Address, I expected an introduction that would try and unite the divided Congress but that wasn’t his focus.  President Bush made a point of harping on taxes before anything else.

The gist of his arguments revolved around reducing taxes, making current tax cuts permanent, and reducing earmarks going forward.  He also mentioned that on the topic of earmarks, he had previously asked Congress (the newly minted Democratic Congress) to reduce earmarks by one-half and they disappointed him on that front.

On Earmarks, President Bush said:

“Last year, I asked you to voluntarily cut the number and cost of earmarks in half. I also asked you to stop slipping earmarks into committee reports that never even come to a vote. Unfortunately, neither goal was met..”

As expected, Republicans rewarded the President with numerous standing ovations for the “make tax increases permanent” lines of rhetoric and the earmark castigation while Democrats sat quietly biting their lips.  Not everything the President said was divisive, however.

On Energy and Global Warming, President Bush made a nice statement

“The United States is committed to strengthening our energy security and confronting global climate change,” he said “And the best way to meet these goals is for America to continue leading the way toward the development of cleaner and more energy efficient technology.”

The President mentioned Education briefly.

“The No Child Left Behind Act” is a bipartisan achievement that is succeeding, but said “we must also do more to help children when their schools do not measure up.”

Republicans made it clear during the speech that they support President Bush through good times and bad.   Their enthusiasm for President Bush’s leadership was evident by their loud cheers and frequent applause.

It’s disappointing to see how divided Congress is, the Republican side of Congress constantly stood and cheered President Bush while Democrats stood only on rhetoric that would get them in trouble if they hadn’t.  What was most interesting about Bush’s State of the Union address is that the President isn’t flinching at all despite growing noise surrounding his potential impeachment.

Overall, President Bush’s speech made him sound like an overbearing parent castigating his children for not falling in line with papa’s policy.

What’s rhetoric got to do with it?  The Ball is in the Democrat’s court.

On Rhetoric, the derisive language and condescending tone of the President could be enough to encourage Democrats in congress to grow backbone and start challenging the president.  Up until now, our Democratic leadership has complained about the “poor decisions” coming from the White House and speak negatively about Republican behavior but they do nothing about it.

It’s time to put up or shut up for the Democratic Congress and if politics is getting in the way of their leadership then it’s time for an all out assault in the media until their voices heard loud and clear.  I guarantee you, the people have heard the President and know exactly where he stands.

I’ll give the president this, he has cajones the size of Texas.

His words were strong and coming from a Republican perspective, they made sense.

Limited government and spending is always ideal, but in practice it hasn’t played out that way.  A lot of his rhetoric will come off as prickly with politicos that understand the limitations of our dysfunctional government.   It’s great that the president felt secure and strong on his support of key issues, but I’m shocked that he didn’t take the opportunity to try and unite the Congress and country around important American policy issues.

On the surface, it seemed like he attempted to rally Congress around success in Iraq and bringing the troops home safely. Democrats forced applause on Iraq as they aren’t on the same page with President Bush.  It’s not even close as evident by Harry Reid’s statement last week on Iraq progress:

“Five years, nearly 4,000 deaths and half a trillion dollars later, the mission is still not accomplished.”

note: I’ll update later with a transcript and/or video along with any noteworthy comments by Congressional leaders.  If you liked this article, please subscribe to the White House Intel Report, thanks for reading — I appreciate any comments you might have.

White House Coverage - State of the Union Address - Media reports

1. “We have unfinished business” — CNN Coverage
2. “Trust Americans with their own money” — Fox News Coverage
3. “Bush Speech Focuses on War and Taxes” — NY Times
4. “Bush Defiant in Final Stand” — MSNBC Coverage
5. “State of the Union Address” — Watch it on CSPAN
6. “The President gives the State of the Union” — Official White House News
7. “Fact Checking the State of the Union” — NPR

Barack Obama responds to the State of the Union Address

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
Email this author | All posts by Fred Soto