Thursday, February 03, 2005

State of the Union

I guess I should comment on the State of the Union. I haven't heard all of it; I've mostly heard a bit of the talking heads on both sides. My wife Angie said Bush did a really good job in what she heard (and for those of you who know her, that's a real compliment). You can tell that he really does care and really does want to do good.

Most of the Democrats who've responded seem to be making fools of themselves. They should just admit that things are going pretty well for Bush. How can you do anything else when it seems to be a good thing for most of the Iraqi people? I'm not sure it does much good to keep rehashing the flub-ups of going to war. Bush won the election so that page is now past. If we think about another war, the debate can start again.

I think we need the Democratic party around to emphasize the good things Republicans have to deemphasize because of their constituencies. But the Democratic leaders now seem like a bunch of buffoons... Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, ... Can't they find anyone with charisma? I'm not sure Hilary qualifies.

I won't say much about Bush's goals. I've already written a little on Social Security and foreign policy. Here's hoping democracy takes hold in Iraq and that someone saves Social Security without leaving anyone insecure.

All in all, I'd say perhaps the best thing going on right now is the potential mending of relations between Israel and the Palestinians--and Bush hasn't really had much of anything to do with it.

1 comment:

JTillett said...

Just a quick question. Do you still view the war as disasterous as you previously expressed? Or does the high voter turn-out in Iraq seem to indicate that maybe this war had some very good objectives that it is meeting? Has your opinion changed at all?
The reason I ask is that while I was fairly ambivalent about the war, when I heard initial estimates of 60% voter-turn out, it definitely swayed me. (I haven't followed news closely enough to hear the actually voter turn-out percentage.) Perhaps the vote count is no indication of how people feel about the war; maybe the Iraqis are just making the most of the situation. But at first glance, it sure seems like many Iraqis are not as opposed to the war as some of Bush's critics. Thoughts?