One Last Shot for the President

Facing his lowest approvals of his presidency, and a hostile congress for the first time, President Bush was facing a tough challenge last night. He needed to hit a crushing shot out of the ball park, instead he dribbled a grounder in the infield and we still don't know if it is even a hit.

He stated we must

solve problems, not leave them to future generations

yet his borrow and spend policies have left us with a burgeoning deficit. He talked about

Our citizens don’t much care which side of the aisle we sit on — as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done.

after championing the most partisan political period of our time. Funny how your attitude is tempered, and your politics moderated, when you are stripped of your political capital and find yourself in the minority.

The President talks the talk

A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens have affordable and available health care.

but fails in implementation. A tax deductions of health insurance is a noble idea, but with millions of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions, this deduction puts nothing in reach for them. We need a comprehensive plan, not a band aid that looks good on paper.

For the rest of his delivery, it was all 9/11 all the time. It seemed like he said 9/11 911 times.

Gulf War II:The Vengeance (From the Onion, via Fecke) will mark his legacy, and there is no escaping that. I supported regime change in Iraq, but had confidence in our Commander in Chief to conduct that change in a reasoned and responsible manner. He has not. Now we are forced to 'surge' in one last attempt to rid Baghdad of the resurgents that continue to murder innocents. I understand and support this call, but with the understanding that by November, as the President stated in the Surge Speech, security is handed over to the Iraqi people, and redeployment begins.

One of the most powerful paragraph in President Bush's delivery, told it like it is. And whether you are unconditionally supportive of his actions, or a peacenik waiting for you dream, it is something you should heed:

Our enemies are quite explicit about their intentions. They want to overthrow moderate governments and establish safe havens from which to plan and carry out new attacks on our country. By killing and terrorizing Americans, they want to force our country to retreat from the world and abandon the cause of liberty. They would then be free to impose their will and spread their totalitarian ideology. Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." And Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us.

There was also an admittance, it seemed, on the administration's part that they are somewhat responsible for the Hornets nest in Iraq, as the power vacuum in Iraq created an opportunity for those whom we are trying to rid the world of:

"We did not drive al Qaeda out of their safe haven in Afghanistan only to let them set up a new safe haven in a free Iraq."

See. Mr. President, that is exactly what you ended up doing.

The tributes at the end seemed almost out of place. Traditionally, these tribute are injected within the context of a domestic proposal, or international moment of valor. Last night they were tagged at the end, almost out of the blue, with limited context. And something else was missing.

I was following his speech via the released text, and when he started doing those tributes at the end I was thinking "he hasn't said the State of the Unions is "?"." So while he was hyping on Mutombo, I did a quick search for 'Union' and there it was. We didn't miss it at the beginning of the speech, where everyone else puts it. There it was, in the final sentence

"the state of out Union is Strong"

Maybe he was saving the best for last. I am hoping the best is yet to come!

I know . . such a dreamer!

Flash