George W. Bush delivered his penultimate State of the Union address last night and, as usual, most of his statements need to be translated from politico-speak into real terms. Thinking about what Bush actually said, there are two glaring facts nobody seems to want to mention.First, as with his "Iraqi surge speech", there's nothing new here. Usually by the last two years, a President looks to create something for his legacy. This usually means he introduces a new initiative that goes nowhere, but at least sounds good in a State of the Union speech. This time? No initiative.
Second, he has a very difficult time telling the truth. Fortunately, America has come to understand this; pity the press hasn't. Going through his speech, paragraph by paragraph, we see numerous examples of Bush's lies, past and present. But what is most important, we know from past experience that for all his good words, George W. Bush doesn't mean any of it.
Instead, he's giving us the same old garbage, repackaged in new, phony rhetoric. For example, last year he said, "America is addicted to oil." This year, it's "the serious challenge of global climate change." But there is still no plan to deal with it. All he does is demand more drilling, as if that could solve anything.
Or education - again, Bush calls for an extension of the miserable failure of a "No Child Left Behind" act (NCLB). Bush's first Secretary of Education was an inveterate liar who falsified graduation, truancy and crime levels as Superintendent of the Houston school system. NCLB has done nothing to raise real standards, and has forced teachers to spend valuable class time giving practice tests rather than actually teaching students.
Taxes? Please!
Health insurance? More privatization, combined with tax deductions only rich people can use. Poor people -- the ones without coverage -- don't pay federal income taxes, so a tax deduction is of no use to them. He claims that his plans will open up health insurance coverage to millions of Americans, but his plans prove him to be a liar.
On the "war on terror", he has at least admitted (sort of) that whatever it was we invaded Iraq to accomplish is not what we're there doing now. But his only "solution" is escalation, while refusing to admit that our invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with the "war on terror". America sent George W. Bush a powerful message last November - stop lying to us! But instead of getting the message, he just ratchets up the lies.
Meanwhile, even as Bush is busy lying through his teeth, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tells Congress there's no such thing as a Constitutional right of habeas corpus -- next thing you know he'll be using the same argument to say there's no right to freedom of speech, religion, the press, or anything else.
How much longer can we take this before it will require a second American Revolution, with all the attendant chaos, mayhem and bloodshed, to restore freedom in this land?
Copyright 2007, Dan Jacoby
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