Bush to Dems: "Bring...it...on!"
The President threw down the gauntlet tonight. It isn't any surprise to me, and shouldn't be to anybody who remotely knows the man, but I'd wager there are a lotta Donks who are fit to be tied after this SOTUA. They'll just never learn to move beyond their prejudices and start regarding George W. Bush as he is, rather than the cartoon character they insist on believing he is.
Lots of blue fingers waving in the air. This address taking place in the wake of the triumphant Iraqi elections gave the President the clear "home court advantage."
He called the State of the Union "confident and strong." And such it is, despite all the Democrat attempts to mischaracterize it into a perpetual calamity to which only they have the "answers." How many viewers tonight were aware of the 2.3 millon new jobs created in the past year, or the record level of home ownership? It's occasions like these that serve as educational opportunities more than anything else, since many Americans won't get the truth anywhere else.
He's swinging with both arms. Spending discipline below the rate of inflation. Making the tax cuts permanent. Tort reform. "Nucular" energy. Health savings accounts. And then he got to Social Security!
WHAM! For anyone over 55, the system won't change. WHAM! He uses the word "bankrupt." WHAM! Fewer and fewer workers per retiree - the actuarial doomsday that has to be addressed now when the burden of transition is still manageable over time. WHAM! "If you have children in their twenties, the prospect of Social Security collapsing before they retire is not a small matter. And it should not seem like a small matter to Congress."
This was just too much for the Dems, who booed when he said the system will be bankrupt by a certain date. How it must fry them for the truth to get out, unfiltered, to the American people. Hell, how they hate hearing the truth themselves, even though many of them were saying the same things when Bill Clinton was in the White House.
Oh, one more WHAM! "Federal employees already have it." (i.e. private accounts). Beautiful!
He backed the Federal Marriage Amendment. Talk about "in your face." He talked up the "culture of life," including maintaining his ethical standards vis-a-vie embryonic stem cell research ("Human life should never be bought and sold as a commodity"). And he let it fly in no uncertain terms that the games' afoot vis-a-vie judicial appointments. Senator Frist, get ready to press that figurative big red button.
Actually, the foreign policy portion of the speech is not all that much of a stemwinder. But then, to me it wouldn't be, because, again, the President wasn't saying anything I didn't expect. The GWOT, staying the course in Iraq (no artificial time tables - leave when the mission is completed) - I don't think Dirty Harry Reid is going to like this speech very much - and how about the shots across the bow of Syria and Iran! I hope that's more than just disposable rhetoric, or Michael Ledeen will be found in a fetal position sucking his thumb.
Good emphasis on the benefits of Iraqi freedom (Gee, wasn't that the name of this mission to begin with?) for the Iraqis (two Iraqi women in the gallery next to Laura Bush) and ourselves, as well as illustrating for the whole world (including Eason Jordan) what it truly means to support the troops, by supporting the mission they're trying to accomplish. Long standing O for the mother of a Marine killed in the Battle of Fallujah, who is comforted by the aforementioned two Iraqi women. Great symbolism!
Love the imagery - dreams exist to be attained, and the greatest dream is freedom.
Nope, the Dems are definitely not going to like this speech. It wasn't a laundry list. It was ambitious, just as the President's agenda is ambitious. It was easy to grasp, being centered around a few items with a common theme. And it sent the unmistakable message to Democrats AND Republicans that he intends to enact this agenda, right over the top of them if necessary.
The thing to watch isn't the reaction of Dirty Harry and Crazy Nancy, but how much difficulty they have keeping their caucuses together. Particularly Reid. I, for one, am coming around to the belief that it will be tougher for him to be a wall-to-wall obstructionist than he might be thinking.
What will be the catalyst for this? Republicans closing ranks behind Bush. As Robert Moran put it today, "Never underestimate the political allure of 'being for what's gonna happen.'" With the majority solidly behind the President's agenda, meaning it's going to pass anyway, not every Donk, particularly the ones from "red" states, is going to be willing to be a political "suicide bomber" for the Michael Moore brigades that dominate that party.
That's the dynamic of being in the permanent minority. And it's a dynamic that more and more Dems are going to have to accommodate themselves to, particularly with the leaders they have and the President they're facing.
Tonight, that stature gap couldn't have been more gaping. There ought be no doubt which end of Pennsylvania Avenue is "large and in charge."
Lots of blue fingers waving in the air. This address taking place in the wake of the triumphant Iraqi elections gave the President the clear "home court advantage."
He called the State of the Union "confident and strong." And such it is, despite all the Democrat attempts to mischaracterize it into a perpetual calamity to which only they have the "answers." How many viewers tonight were aware of the 2.3 millon new jobs created in the past year, or the record level of home ownership? It's occasions like these that serve as educational opportunities more than anything else, since many Americans won't get the truth anywhere else.
He's swinging with both arms. Spending discipline below the rate of inflation. Making the tax cuts permanent. Tort reform. "Nucular" energy. Health savings accounts. And then he got to Social Security!
WHAM! For anyone over 55, the system won't change. WHAM! He uses the word "bankrupt." WHAM! Fewer and fewer workers per retiree - the actuarial doomsday that has to be addressed now when the burden of transition is still manageable over time. WHAM! "If you have children in their twenties, the prospect of Social Security collapsing before they retire is not a small matter. And it should not seem like a small matter to Congress."
This was just too much for the Dems, who booed when he said the system will be bankrupt by a certain date. How it must fry them for the truth to get out, unfiltered, to the American people. Hell, how they hate hearing the truth themselves, even though many of them were saying the same things when Bill Clinton was in the White House.
Oh, one more WHAM! "Federal employees already have it." (i.e. private accounts). Beautiful!
He backed the Federal Marriage Amendment. Talk about "in your face." He talked up the "culture of life," including maintaining his ethical standards vis-a-vie embryonic stem cell research ("Human life should never be bought and sold as a commodity"). And he let it fly in no uncertain terms that the games' afoot vis-a-vie judicial appointments. Senator Frist, get ready to press that figurative big red button.
Actually, the foreign policy portion of the speech is not all that much of a stemwinder. But then, to me it wouldn't be, because, again, the President wasn't saying anything I didn't expect. The GWOT, staying the course in Iraq (no artificial time tables - leave when the mission is completed) - I don't think Dirty Harry Reid is going to like this speech very much - and how about the shots across the bow of Syria and Iran! I hope that's more than just disposable rhetoric, or Michael Ledeen will be found in a fetal position sucking his thumb.
Good emphasis on the benefits of Iraqi freedom (Gee, wasn't that the name of this mission to begin with?) for the Iraqis (two Iraqi women in the gallery next to Laura Bush) and ourselves, as well as illustrating for the whole world (including Eason Jordan) what it truly means to support the troops, by supporting the mission they're trying to accomplish. Long standing O for the mother of a Marine killed in the Battle of Fallujah, who is comforted by the aforementioned two Iraqi women. Great symbolism!
Love the imagery - dreams exist to be attained, and the greatest dream is freedom.
Nope, the Dems are definitely not going to like this speech. It wasn't a laundry list. It was ambitious, just as the President's agenda is ambitious. It was easy to grasp, being centered around a few items with a common theme. And it sent the unmistakable message to Democrats AND Republicans that he intends to enact this agenda, right over the top of them if necessary.
The thing to watch isn't the reaction of Dirty Harry and Crazy Nancy, but how much difficulty they have keeping their caucuses together. Particularly Reid. I, for one, am coming around to the belief that it will be tougher for him to be a wall-to-wall obstructionist than he might be thinking.
What will be the catalyst for this? Republicans closing ranks behind Bush. As Robert Moran put it today, "Never underestimate the political allure of 'being for what's gonna happen.'" With the majority solidly behind the President's agenda, meaning it's going to pass anyway, not every Donk, particularly the ones from "red" states, is going to be willing to be a political "suicide bomber" for the Michael Moore brigades that dominate that party.
That's the dynamic of being in the permanent minority. And it's a dynamic that more and more Dems are going to have to accommodate themselves to, particularly with the leaders they have and the President they're facing.
Tonight, that stature gap couldn't have been more gaping. There ought be no doubt which end of Pennsylvania Avenue is "large and in charge."
posted by JASmius at 6:36 PM
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