The Sorry State of a Lame-Duck’s Legacy
The Constitution requires that presidents “from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
Tradition has made the annual State of the Union address the primary public venue for such reporting.
As such, the State of the Union address is officially a big deal. And it is always accorded an appropriate measure of attention by the television networks, members of Congress (unless, like John McCain, they are bidding to replace the president) and the American people. But some State of the Union addresses are more equal than others. When George Bush addressed Congress in 2005, he did so as the most powerful man on the planet: the reelected commander of a warrior nation that was controlled down to the very roots of its executive, legislative and judicial branches by the president’s partisan allies. Even if it was obvious to any serious observer that severe second-term rot had already begun to set in, Bush boldly renewed America’s acquaintance with all the bad ideas - neo-conservative military adventuring and free trade abroad, deficit spending and related flights of fiscal fantasy at home - of his tenure.
Nothing was going to change, the president told America. Nothing would get better.
And nothing did. The occupation of Iraq grew deadlier and more expensive, the occupation of Afghanistan grew more unstable, trade deficits grew, structural deficits bloated, the rich got richer, the poor got poorer and America’s economy slowly swirled down the drain.
Then came the election of 2006, with its defeat of Bush’s Republican Party and the restoration of Democratic control of the Congress. Even if the Democrats did not provide Bush with the full-bodied opposition that the voted had hoped for, their presence broke the illusion of Bush’s omnipotence.
So it was that the president delivered his final State of the Union address last night as a broken man whose partisan allies would not even wear the “I’m a Bush Republican” pins that had been delivered to their offices by a puckish critic of the president and his party.
Even in the face of the humiliation that is a 31 percent approval rating, the president could not muster the humility that might have engendered sympathy.
Instead, he steadfastly stuck by a failed agenda. Yes, there were minor bows to reality, highlighted by his recent recognition that some redistribution of the wealth will be required to slow the arrival of a scorching recession until after this year’s elections.
But even as he promoted the economic stimulus package that his aides and congressional leaders had cobbled together, Bush refused to make the most basic connections with regard to the crisis he has created.
Noting that Bush aides were promising on Monday that the president would offer “no new ideas” in his speech, Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, a Democratic freshman, observed, “That’s unfortunate. Mr. President: Our country is in grave economic trouble. We have a housing finance meltdown going on while energy costs spiral up and down. Affordable and accessible healthcare is out of reach to almost 50 million Americans with 6 million alone added during this President’s tenure. Our educational system has left far too many children behind, while our bridges are literally falling down in America. Mr. President: our country needs an economic stimulus package that will result in something more than pocket change for most working families. Mr. President: The best American economic stimulus package you could offer the American public is to end this war in Iraq.”
Unfortunately, of not surprisingly, Bush declined to take Ellison’s advice.
As predicted, the president’s last State of the Union speech echoed the empty rhetoric of the speeches that came before it. There was an extended call on Congress to make permanent the tax cuts for the rich that have so skewed the nation’s economic balance since Bush secured them. There were attacks on spending by a president who has presided over the dramatic bloating of deficits that are the spawn of unsustainable spending. There were more defenses of free-trade pacts that have harmed workers, the environment and communities in the United States and abroad. And there were more fantastical claims about the successes of the disastrous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The president would have made news last night if he had said, “I’m sorry. I broke it.”
But George Bush never was very good at taking responsibility for his mistakes. So he offered America another order of “the usual.”
Unfortunately for him, American has lost its taste for what this president is peddling - and for the man himself.
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, summed the evening up best when she said, “Tonight’s speech is the ’swan song’ of a presidency that is ending and will not be missed. President Bush may choose to believe that the state of our union is strong; but under his direction, our economy is flailing, our infrastructure is crumbling, the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans is rising, America’s moral and strategic leadership in the world is plummeting, our Constitution is being trampled, and our servicemen and women and their families are sacrificing enormously in an unnecessary war.”
With the delivery of this final State of the Union address, Bush fulfilled one of his constitutional duties.
Would that Congress might do the same and begin impeachment hearings.
In the absence of that appropriate response to a failed presidency, we are left with the sad circumstance of State of the Union address delivered by an executive whose tenure is over in every sense save the one that matters most.
As such, the circumstance, while sad for Bush, is sadder still for America.
John Nichols is a co-founder of Free Press and the co-author with Robert W. McChesney of TRAGEDY & FARCE: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy — The New Press.
© 2008 The Nation
Bush’s final State Of The Union address was dishonest, pathetic and delusional.
Congress gave him numerous standing ovations.
“As for George Bush and his neo-conservative helpers, they will go down in history as the grave diggers of the American empire.”
After The Empire, by Emmanuel Todd
Agreed, JConrad. Therefore, in the face of this dishonest, pathetic, and delusional administration, the opposition party must work extra hard to be even less respected.
Every time he flashed his smug grin during the SOTUS, I wanted to barf. He treated it all like some big joke. Cheney too. We need to get rid of him before he screws up more.
I think I’ll use my economic stimulus to buy Euros.
whatfools:
…or gold.
Did anyone catch that Freudian slip when Bush was talking about the VA and he said they should have the resources for a new war, then he shrugged and smirked as he caught himself. Was this typical Bush misspeak or did he slip and let the cat out of the bag?
My daughter was 7 yesterday. In essence she has spent her entire life under this president.
You can’t eat Euros or gold, and I doubt the local 7-11 will take them. I’m more inclined toward cases of teabags, canned tuna, black beans, peanut butter, and applesauce, plus some garden tools.
Did all of you get the impression that the State of the Destruction Address was more like a country club gathering of the Good Ole Boys and Girls than a real State of the Union Address? To me it actually came across as a fraternity speech more than anything else. “Make sure that all of you keep paying your dues and we have ample beer stashed away to last for the year. Don’t forget that next week is rush week so make sure you wear your nicest clothes. Go out and round up those pledges. And by the way, don’t belch or fart in public…” Good riddance George Wanker Bush!
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…George Bush is nothing but shit with skin on it…..
It will be interesting to see how the public schools teach the bush presidency. Already they are preaching “America has freed Iraq”, “Our brave soldiers are fighting to keep America safe”, and “Terrorists attacked the country on 9/11 and these terrorists are being fought in Iraq”.
I think that the history books will be written to the flavor that bush was a great man and humanitarian(as laughable as that is). Fortunately my kids know better.
once again,the “decider” has decided not to TELL THE TRUTH !
Neocons never let reality get in the way of good philosophy.
He lost two towers in New York, two wars in Asia, the entire city of New Orleans and the federal surplus. What a legacy.
Here’s a LEGACY. After having my brother help steal the election in Florida, I became the President of The United States of America. __ “Yup”.
As president, I took a nice monetary surplus Bill Clinton left us and bankrupted the country. I then borrowed trillions of dollars from China and started an illegal war with Iraq. After that mission was “accomplished”, I didn’t insure we had suffecient troops available there to maintain order and prevent civil war and anarchy. But I did have my Halliburton build a huge embassy complex in Baghdad. “YUP”.
Under my watch, we lost millions of jobs and bankruptcies set a record. By January of the year 2008, the United States was on the verge of a depression, I didn’t see it coming and had no decent answers on how to prevent it. I did just as good as th epresident as I did as the Governor of Texas.
I’m a born again Christian though and our Congress loves me. Did y’all see their standing ovations and cheering, and Dennis Kucinich wants to have me impeached. In your dreams assholes. My legacy? My friends own the press and the media, they’ll write my legacy. So screw you, especially you Common Dreamers. __ Keep dreaming commoners, I got mine.
I was thinkin’ that if Nancy had a Louisville Slugger, she coulda had a twofer!
Australian television showed only a small excerpt of the speech but enough to see the facial contortions of Nanci Pelosi.She looked like she was about to throw-up at any moment.
I believe she was ill. There was no color to her face or hands and she kept staring at the floor. She appeared like one who was being held hostage during a foiled robbery and feared she was about to be raped by a madman.
So many botox injections will make a person’s face look ashen.
She sure wasn’t having hot flashes ~Claudius~.
the people who looked to me like they could barely hold their cookies were the military. i get the feeling that those folks can’t wait to see the door hit their commander in chief in the ass. and didn’t you just love the way he hung around in the aisle afterwards signing autographs like he thinks he’s a rock star? it is always interesting to see all those people actually in the same room together. condi rice looked a little nervous. maybe the ghost of benazir bhutto is haunting her. i don’t even have a television, but i went to my neighbors so i could heckle.
The Lorax:
You have put your finger right on the problem: the schools. It is the teachers of America who are responsable for the state of this country. Let me make this clear, it is not the elites, the corpoprations, or the rich who are to blame for the actions of the US or its present,unavoidable consequence, it is the people, and the teachers and parents who taught them who are responsible. The parents are not teachers in the sense that they have not undergone training to do their job, teachers have. Ultimately, the mentality of the people is the responsability of the teachers. Since the American mentality is a disgrace, it follows that so are its teachers. Include reverends, pastors , and priests among the teachers. The most intelligent, developed, and progressive societies of the planet regard the mentality of Americans with disgust. I mean, it, disgust. Every American needs to ask themselves why.
All teachers are trained the same way and teach the same way??
Of course not.
AFSC - Col. Dan Smith, ret. looks at military affairs for the American Friends Service Committee:
http://quakerscolonel.blogspot.com/2008/01/state-of-union-limerick.html
Hey Lizard/Lorax, I hope you are joking because I am a teacher.
What have you done to change things for the better? I try every day to make a difference.
I told all of my classes 6-8 months before the Shock and Awe began, (Sept 2002) that our president was lying for some devious reason about the existence WMD in Iraq. I fear he is planning a war for oil.
I had read many UNSCOM briefings and books about Iraq, so that I was familiar with the plain fact that Iraq’s WMD had been verifiably destroyed long before Bush invaded. I even wrote a letter to George W Bush telling him to go on UNSCOM’s website to read it for himself in plain English!
I suffered all kinds of fallout in my school and from right-wing parents and admnistrators. They made me shut up. But I refused. I had done my research and I challenged anyone at anytime to a prewar debate. I printed references and distributed copies.
Many “good patriots” refused to read my sources. “You have your opinions and I have mine” they said.
A few years later when the “intelligence errors” about WMD made headlines, I was laughing in all of their faces.
There are a lot of good teachers in this country, but when the media lies daily to everyone, they can opt out of reality for their daily patriotic fantasy news about how great America really is and how we are the only country doing anything to save the world.
There are some good teachers out there, and blaming them for the sorry state of our nation is like blaming the burger flipper at jack in the box for an e-coli outbreak. It’s the system that’s failing us, a system that is being driven from the top down by idealogues who don’t give a crap about anyone except for themselves and their elite friends. Unfortunately, there are a lot of enablers among the middle and lower classes who have bought the right wing rhetoric hook line and sinker. Maybe we (progressive thinkers) are going to have to wake up and realize that we really are on our own and start building something new from the ground up. What if the system really is broken beyond repair? I liked the fraternity analogy. And you know what? We are not invited to the party.
This is my first response to a Common Dreams discussion but Lorax struck a nerve. I am also a teacher and I’m offended by the suggestion that “it’s all our fault!” To an extent, our hands are tied–do we not join the class in the required Pledge of Allegiance even though the “and justice for all” part makes me gag? If there were really “justice,” both bush and cheney would be in Guantanamo strapped to a waterboard. The height of our soapboxes is somewhat limited, I’m afraid.
George Bush’s state of the union address reminded me of the old saying…you can’t shine shit.
George and his criminal buddies…had a very profitable run.
As for Pelosi …she is a worthless, spineless, colaberating sack of shit. She should get the boot in her ass too. I live in SF and I will vote for a dead person before I vote for that skank. Her duty under the constitution was to file for impeachment given high crimes by the Pres/vice pres. Doesn’t lieing us into war constitute a crime? Yet the first words out of her pathetic mouth were impeachment is off the table. She is a member of the George’s ruling elite. Give her the boot in her ass too. She deserves it. Ughh
Teachers-those of you who know and care are between a rock and a hard-spot. If you tell the truth it will disagree with the history book approved by your board of education plus bring down the wrath of 70% of the parents. The books most schools in America get are actually chosen or censored by the Texas board of education. It has huge purchasing power and can virtually get the history they like. The companies find it much cheaper to print the Texas BOE version and change it very little to sell to the rest of the States. “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, Revised and Updated Edition by James W. Loewen” is not an anti- teacher book but outlines much of what the teachers have to deal with and explains how they have little or no options but to put lies in front of the kids.
Oh yeah, the State of the Union speech was a farce.
He was improperly dressed; he should have worn a bedsheet robe, an olive wreath on his head, and played the lyra or fiddle.
esarge, woodrow, barn burner,
Thank you! I was responding to Lizard’s sweeping generalization.
Kudos to John Nichols for “Sorry State” — a deserved critique of the State of the Union ‘08. The only bright spot in this dark night of reason was that the State of Gaia is now a blip on the radar screeen. A third or halfway down in the text, in the paragraph “To build a future of energy security,” there is a pleasant surprise. The Climate Changer in Chief mentions the word “environment”. Imagine that: a Republican mentioning the word “environment”. Isn’t this wonderful? Granted, 43 couldn’t bring himself to say Climate Change or Global Heating. He did say “carbon emissions” and “greenhouse gases”, though. That made my pulse speed up. That was nice of him.
Lizard/Lorax may be exaggerating, but is L/L’s post completely off the mark? While there are admirable exceptions at my school, they’re few and far in between. Since the first of the stolen elections, most of my colleagues have kept their necks down, have taught “even-handedly”, and have failed to find the integrity and the courage to speak out. My colleagues tend to be very careful, very guarded, very circumspect. My university is very tranquil. Most everyone, it seems, is quite afraid of making trouble.
Authority is not questioned.
In that sense, the majority of American teachers is bound to be implicated in Bush’s crimes against humanity. They’ve had a daily choice for the past seven years to speak out in the classroom. Most of them have chosen not to. They will be remembered for their conduct. Just like the German profs under Hitler, the Russian profs under Stalin, and the Chinese profs under Mao, the pervasive chickenshit attitude of the vast majority of the American profs under Bush will come back to haunt them. They could have made a difference. But most of them chose not to. History will be their judge. And I fear the kids won’t be impressed.
.
I was insulted by Nancy’s chit-chatting with Cheney during the speech. To me, that would be like sharing a little joke with Charlie Manson (though he does seem to have a sunnier disposition than Cheney). I’m a teacher too, and I’m tired of my profession getting the blame for the ills of the country. I do my best to set students straight if they start spouting the propaganda. Our curriculum is mostly geography of the US, so thankfully I don’t have to teach propaganda either. I will say that there are an alarming number of Bush loyalists among my supposedly knowledgable coworkers. I’ve been trying for all of the “Bush years” to bring them the light of truth, but most refuse to see. The younger teachers especially are woefully disinterested or uninformed about politics. Just like the country, I suppose.
“Lame duck” is mythology.
“Untouchable” is more like it. The Dems will refuse to do anything over the next year. Bush, who made more presidential signing statements (exceptions to laws) than all past presidents combined, will grant the mother lode of presidential pardons. The enabling Dims will tell us why it was all necessary, and how we need vision and feel-good platitudes to move forward.
And in ‘08, or ‘12 or ‘16 most of these scoundrels — who weren’t jailed — will be back like bad pennies.
About the speech: How pathetic that the erstwhile opposition party gave standing ovations to this knave Bush.
About teachers: I believe that teachers need to speak the truth but add the caveat that whatever it is they believe is their opinion and that others have different points of view. We don’t want teachers to indoctrinate students with their ideology be it left or right. To do otherwise in these Orwellian time is to risk a trip to the unemployment line.
I recently heard about a professor that was suspended pending termination for comparing Bush to Hitler in a conservative district.
Exactly, tailcap! And we all know that the most important thing in life is our employment, right? LIke most US citizens, teachers tend to prefer stability and safety and non-involvement and silence. No teaching of political principle or any kind of idea can be taught unless there is a Pro and a Con debate, open and freely and enthusiastically engaged in, and most teachers simply lack the integrity and historical perspective to discern which principles are truly the Most Important.. for our survival. Mostly we believe in WAR. Sorry.
So our culture has slowly evolved into an organism dedicated to aggressive war and mayhem for fun and profit. What a bummer. Let’s love one another and keep on smiling and remember that things are slated to change very fast very soon.
estebandido January 30th, 2008 12:11 am
When you say “mostly we believe in WAR” please speak for yourself. I stand by what I said that teachers should not indoctrinate students with their personal political beliefs. Certain principles are not negotiable like killing, stealing, disrespect, intolerance, and inequality to name a few. I would personally tell students I believe that war is wrong unless in self-defense but others are convinced the war in Iraq is necessary. I would not insist they need to agree with me. That to me is the parents job.
There is a range of issues though that certainly fall into a gray area in which I don’t think teachers need to push their personal opinions. After all, whether Kucinich, Edwards, Obama or Clinton would make the best president is subject to opinion.
What you say about teachers preferring stability, safety and noninvolvement is generally true. I am the most outspoken and involved teacher at my school. About lacking integrity and historical perspective that may be true also, not really sure, but sorry to burst your bubble, teachers are just like the rest of society. Some are good and others not. They are just as imperfect and flawed as everybody else my friend.
About going out on a limb and getting fired, honestly it’s a rare individual that will do that. I have three kids to support so I’ll admit to being a little sheepish on that one. I write my congress people, attend peace rallies, blog, talk to my friends, preach peace, and send money to organizations. I don’t do enough that’s true. Maybe I don’t have the courage to go beyond stating the war was waged on a false premise and is wrong. I don’t bash Bush because my superiors would consider it inappropriate. Sorry about that.
Tell me estedido what have you done to demonstrate that your principles are important enough to you that you are willing to get fired? What have you done? Have you ever been arrested and gone to jail for your principles? Have you ever been beat up for taking a courageous stand? Ever got fired for speaking truth to power? Tell us about it.
Ok, somebody, anybody, please explain to me why the impeachment option is so long in coming. Why do people keep tiptoeing up to the line and then backing off? It’s something I truly do not understand - no irony here - I would like some insight into this puzzle.
Why did it happen so fast for Clinton’s indiscretion? Was it that the Bush-Cheney neocons are better at mobilizing action or consensus?
This clown should have been removed for treason or incomptetence as soon as he was seen to coddle the very people who were behind the WTC attacks, as soon as the WMD thing was revealed to be a deceptive manipulation to launch an illegal war.
Why, almost 7 years later, is he still in office?
It is very distubing to say the least, that techers now fear to speak the truth to their co-workers. This same type of thing happend in Nazi Germany in 1938 thru 1945. Of course Bush is following Hitler’s script, except he and Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld, are modifing the script to eleminte any errors Hitler made. What they are attempting is self evident. I sensed Nancy Pelosi was not only sick, she also appeared to be fearful.
Earl Simmins January 29th, 2008 10:00 pm
“He was improperly dressed; he should have worn a bedsheet robe, an olive wreath on his head, and played the lyra or fiddle.”
Can you smell the smoke? I can.
You mean the smoke blowing out his arse?
Someone should make a scratch-n-sniff card to go with the State of dis-Union speech. BS, barf, arse smoke…you get the picture.
I’m still worried about the next 911; the one that precipitates the invasion of Iran and allows Dubya to invoke the new law that suspends presidential elections during times of national crisis.
Could that really happen? Could a president really lie out his arse nonstop without consequences?
Medusa: Impeachment would implicate reps from both parties. Accomplices.
I like the teacher’s postings, especially Andrew Herman’s about his co-worker’s ignorance in the face of his facts.
I have a similar situation at work - I work in a big office, at a pay level a few dollars above minimum wage, and I often have to endure emails forwarded to me by young female co-workers in their 20’s and 30’s; emails which they presumably get off the internet, the contents of which clearly indicate that they think our biggest problems in America are 1) Democratic congresspeople who vote “no” on bills which would make English the official language of the United States. 2) Illegal immigrants which Democrats will welcome into the country and give amnesty. 3) How Democrats have been destroying Social Security for the past 50 years. and 4) That Barack HUSSEIN Obama (that’s how it’s always typed) is part of an Islamo-fascist plan to destroy our country from the inside. The first, second, and fourth tend to be the nastiest and ugliest emails I get.
These young women are completely blissfully unaware of the enormous debt we are in and of the collapsing dollar, they think homeless people are lazy bloodsuckers of the taxpayer, and that Wal-Mart is just swell.
They all think Fox News is the only really honest news, and there’s just no telling these ninnies anything different. On the few occasions I have tried to present an opposing viewpoint, quite gingerly I might add, I must endure hours or days of being looked at like I’m an enemy or a real wierdo, and being whispered about behind my back, and sometimes to my face. I was already getting enough of this because I’m one of a few guys in an office of over 50 women, just for being a man, but now that I’ve revealed a few liberal tendencies, it’s getting really messy. I’m worrie it will get uglier.
What’s a poor boy to do?
Why has this man been allowed another state of the union? If the spineless dems had done what the Constitution provided for criminals like bush and cheney, they’d both be gone! The dems have set a very dangerous precedent by not impeaching: just how low has the bar for impeachment now been set? And speaking of the dems….forget it.
The dems are every bit as bad as the republicans. I know this has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but it is a perfect example of just how a spinelss dems can be. Having a gelatinous spine is one thing, but when you sell out an entire minority because of it, that crosses the line into immorality. My congressman who is very liberal overall, has told his gay and lesbian constituents they can’t expect any help from state or federal government when it comes to equal rights. You see this particular congressman, who happens to be a man of color, thinks equal marriage isn’t really a matter of civil rights at all. Actually he recently said something not only infuriating and heartless but incoherent. At a meeting involving an official from BCBS of my state and my congressman, a question was asked regarding same sex couple benefits. Of course the BCBS official spewed the typical doupble talk, but my congressman unprompted told the crowd that they shouldn’t expect any help from state or federal goverment. He made a strange comment about how this issue would be settled by the clergy. I’m sorry but if the fate of same sex equality is going to be decided by a bunch of bigoted southenr baptist preachers, gay people will never have equality.
Somehow, my congressman, whom I once held in great esteem, thinks that personal and religious bigotry trumps the civil rights of an entire minority. He perpetuates the myth that equal marriage isn’t a civil rights issue. I know why he says what he says: his district is in the south, and in the south bigoty is still alive and well. It’s one thing southern whites and blacks democrats and republicans can agree on: gays are out to destroy our society and they have to be put in their place.
This is the twenty first century right?!
Well I can’t place all the blame on the dems, the repugnantcans still stand behind this dangerous clown lock stock and barrel.