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January 23, 2007
Ho Hum
State of the Union speeches are always major affiars in American politics. Once a year, all of official Washington gathers for the pomp and circumstance that characterizes this constitutionally mandated event. That said, one could sum up the 2007 SOTU offering by President George W. Bush thusly: more of the same.
President Bush, not a gifted orator, nonetheless has talented writers at his beckon call. Even with the departure of gifted wordsmith Michael Gerson, the president remains rhetorically well served. Well-honed phrases, however, wear thin when glaring problems abound.
George W. Bush's presidency is currently, and likely will be historically, defined by the war in Iraq. The war is not going well, to say the least. Well over 3,000 American lives have been lost (along with those of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis), nearly half a trillion dollars has been spent, and there is no end in sight. The American public has soured on this adventure, but President Bush cannot, for a host of reasons, let it go. He wants a troop increase while America wants out.
It was in this context that Bush stumbled, in his customary way, through the well-crafted prose of his speech. It was predictable and perfunctory applause that filled the hall this evening, not the spirited reactions -- positive and negative -- that have characterized recent State of the Union offerings. Over six years into the Bush 43 presidency, even Washington is through pretending.
Empty pitches about energy independence, health care and education could not dispel the pall the Iraq War cast over the room. Iraq was (other than the GOP standard-bearer at the podium) the enormous elephant in the room, and it wasn't doing the Republican president or his party any favors.
Posted by houtopia at January 23, 2007 09:03 PM