??????? Is that really something he said? His Playbook is the same one, so ultimately there is truth there.....
Bush: 'World getting better'
By Martin Walker
UPI Editor
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- With an eye to his re-election campaign, President George Bush claimed "the world is changing for the better" in his State of the Union address Tuesday.
But in his last such address to the nation before the presidential election in November, Bush insisted that while Iraq was now free, the United States was still a country at war and must stay the course in the war against a still menacing terrorism.
"It is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us," he told the joint houses of Congress, the nation and a far wider global audience. "That hope is understandable, comforting, and false."
Despite this warning, Bush delivered a speech brimming with self-confidence and with a certainty that his policies at home and abroad were right, and meeting with success.
"America is a nation with a mission," he asserted. "This great republic will lead the cause of freedom."
There was no apology for the disarray of America's traditional alliances after the controversy over the war on Iraq. With the diplomatic corps, and distinguished visitors like Adnan Pachachi, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, in the audience, Bush dismissed the opposition of countries like France and Germany.
"There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people.
"We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire," Bush went on. "Our aim is a democratic peace -- a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman.
"The work of building a new Iraq is hard, and it is right," he went on. "And America has always been willing to do what it takes for what is right."
His policies were succeeding, Bush insisted, citing the decision of Libya to give up nuclear weapons and welcome the presence of American and British inspectors.
"For diplomacy to be effective words must be credible -- and no one can now doubt the word of America," he said.
In one striking moment, when Bush listed the countries that had backed the United States and committed troops to Iraq, the Republicans rose to cheer, while the Democrats on the other side of the chamber sat on their hands.
But all rose when Bush, acknowledging that some had not supported the war, and some had seen terrorism as a crime rather than a declaration of war on the United States, declared that for him the issue was clear.
"After the chaos and carnage of September the 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers. The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States -- and war is what they got."
On the domestic front, Bush stood firm in defense of his tax cuts, called on Congress to make them permanent, and claimed that the record level of federal budgets deficits would be halved in five years -- or by the end of the second term of office he evidently expected to win.
"The pace of economic growth in the third quarter of 2003 was the fastest in nearly 20 years," he said. "New home construction: the highest in almost 20 years. Home ownership rates: the highest ever. Manufacturing activity is increasing. Inflation is low. Interest rates are low. Exports are growing. Productivity is high. And jobs are on the rise. These numbers confirm that the American people are using their money far better than government would have -- and you were right to return it."
The American economy was growing but changing, he said, and proposed new job training and healthcare measures to equip Americans for its new challenges.
"We must respond by helping more Americans gain the skills to find good jobs in our new economy," he said. "Congress must act to address rapidly rising healthcare costs."
And for his conservative base Bush warned that "the unseen pillars of civilization," families, schools and churches, "must work together to counter the negative influence of the culture, and send the right messages to our children."
He called for new money to help schools fund drug-testing programs for their pupils, and a new program to promote sexual abstinence for young people. And he insisted after new moves to legalize gay unions that the state must "uphold the sanctity of marriage," which he defined as the union of a man and a woman. If "activist judges" sought to change that, the remedy, he warned, would be "constitutional action."
He proposed, but only in general terms, a system for privately funded pensions, a challenge to the traditionally untouchable Social Security system, and a series of major healthcare reforms that sought to remove one of the main issues on which Democratic presidential candidates have been campaigning.
"I urge you to pass Association Health Plans. I ask you to give lower-income Americans a refundable tax credit that would allow millions to buy their own basic health insurance," he said.
"By computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs, and improve care. To protect the doctor-patient relationship, and keep good doctors doing good work, we must eliminate wasteful and frivolous medical lawsuits. And tonight I propose that individuals who buy catastrophic healthcare coverage, as part of our new health savings accounts, be allowed to deduct 100 percent of the premiums from their taxes."
For his American audience, these proposed reforms were the legislative and political agenda of the election year ahead. For his global audience, however, Bush insisted on holding firm in the war on terrorism, staying the course in Iraq and on controlling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
"The people of Iraq are free," he said, and received one his many standing ovations.
"America is committed to keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world's most dangerous regimes," he said, and his audience stood to applaud again.
"As democracy takes hold in Iraq, the enemies of freedom will do all in their power to spread violence and fear," he went on. "They are trying to shake the will of our country and our friends -- but the United States of America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins. The killers will fail, and the Iraqi people will live in freedom."
Bush suggested that the war on terrorism and the war on Iraq were twin aspects of a deeper problem that had to be addressed, the absence of democracy in so much of the Middle East. He proposed to double the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy, and to focus its new work on the development of free elections, free markets, free press, and free labor unions in the Middle East.
"As long as the Middle East remains a place of tyranny, despair, and anger, it will continue to produce men and movements that threaten the safety of America and our friends," he said. "So America is pursuing a forward strategy of freedom in the greater Middle East. We will challenge the enemies of reform, confront the allies of terror, and expect a higher standard from our friends. And above all, we will finish the historic work of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, so those nations can light the way for others, and help transform a troubled part of the world."
It was the 91st State of the Union address since Woodrow Wilson reintroduced the long-suspended practice, an annual report to the Congress and nation that is now required from each president by law, and has become high in pomp and circumstance, and rich in political opportunity. It is also a moment for rhetoric as much as resolve, a time for a president to define his sense of the national identity and purpose.
"By our actions, we have shown what kind of nation we are," Bush said. "In grief, we found the grace to go on. In challenge, we rediscovered the courage and daring of a free people. In victory, we have shown the noble aims and good heart of America."
"Our nation is strong and steadfast. The cause we serve is right, because it is the cause of all mankind. The momentum of freedom in our world is unmistakable -- and it is not carried forward by our power alone," Bush went on, in what has become a characteristic religious reference.
"We can trust in that greater power who guides the unfolding of the years. And in all that is to come, we can know that his purposes are just and true," he concluded. |
