COLUMN: Seeking a stable state of the union
I’ve got to say, I was sorely disappointed with Monday’s State of the Union Address. This year’s was especially lackluster. You could just tell President Bush didn’t have his heart in it – the lies and empty rhetoric come too easily for him now. President Bush claimed the Iraq troop surge “(has) achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago.” It’s true that the violence is down in Iraq (thankfully!), but this relative calm is fragile. For example, our ceasefire with the Madhi Army, a radical Shia militia, expires next month, and violence could resume. Moreover, the surge has yet to yield significant political progress, its stated goal. And absent that progress, the surge has failed. To demonstrate our “successes” in Iraq, Bush touted the recent decrease of troop levels. “Today, because of the progress just described … the surge forces we sent to Iraq are beginning to come home,” Bush said. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, however, has another explanation for the lower troop levels. He said, “the surge has sucked all the flexibility out of the system.” The fact is the Pentagon must bring the troops home quickly to “reduce the strain on the armed services.” President Bush was right to say that our men and women in uniform deserve our gratitude and respect. That’s why I am dismayed at the negligence with which this administration has treated our veterans. While Bush may have overseen a 95 percent funding increase for the Veterans Administration, as he claimed, it remains woefully under-funded and ill-equipped to serve our veterans. A recent study by the American Journal of Public Health estimated that nearly two million veterans lack health insurance. And this health care is desperately needed in a time of war – USA Today reported that the number of post-traumatic stress disorder cases dramatically increased by 70 percent over the last year. Unlike last year’s address, Bush bothered to mention the Gulf Coast, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. But unfortunately, his administration has done little to help the people of the Gulf Coast. Still, two years after Katrina, tens of thousands are stuck living in FEMA trailers and thousands more have yet to receive theirs. And most of the federal funds earmarked to rebuild the region have gone unspent. President Bush also tried to ease concerns about what appears to be a looming recession by offering more of the same: tax cuts. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, making permanent the Bush tax cuts would cost $4.3 trillion over the next 10 years. The CBPP also found that the tax cuts cater to the wealthiest Americans. They have increased the after-tax incomes of households with annual incomes above $1 million by an average of 7.5 percent, compared to a 2.3 percent increase for households in the middle of the income spectrum and just 0.5 percent for the lowest-income households. When Bush said he sought “an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases,” I had to laugh. There already is such an agreement: the Kyoto Protocol. And because of this president, the U.S. remains the only industrialized nation to refuse to sign the Kyoto Protocol. “President Bush will be remembered not for vision or leadership in a time of climate crisis,” John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA, said, “but for leaving America out of the race for innovative solutions.” If there is one issue on which I could applaud Bush, it would be AIDS. In the address, President Bush reaffirmed his commitment to curbing the AIDS epidemic. To that end, though, Bush’s AIDS relief policy needs reform. His policy states one-third of money allocated for HIV prevention overseas goes to abstinence-only programs. These programs are ineffective and dogma-driven. We should, instead, make contraceptives available and promote safe sex.
President Bush ended Monday’s address with a promise to serve “we the people,” a worthy promise to keep, but one I doubt he will. The American people have lost faith in this administration. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll found the following:
* 68 percent of Americans think the nation is on the wrong track. * More than 60 percent want all troops out of Iraq withdrawn within one year. * 69 percent think waterboarding is torture, and at least 58 percent think it should not be allowed. * 57 percent believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. * 54 percent support civil unions for gay couples. * 51 percent want the government to fund stem-cell research. * 57 percent oppose Telecom immunity.
This is a mandate for change, and its demands were not satisfied by the timid agenda advanced in Monday’s address. And yet, it was my favorite address, because it was Bush’s last. Soon, we’ll have a new president and, I hope, a more stable state of the union.