John Laesch Responds to the State of the Union Address

[frogcycle]

http://www.john08.com/?p=269

John Responds to the State of the Union Address
January 29th, 2008

Last night George W. Bush delivered his final State of the Union address.

Early on he stated, “We believe that the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens.”

He closed his address citing the first three words of our Constitution, and the three words I chose as our campaign theme, “We the People”.

Unfortunately the President’s rhetoric last night does not measure up with his actions, and he demonstrated that he is still committed to the politics of fear.

Fortunately, after seven years of his pro-corporate policies that weaken the middle class, after six years with a Republican Congress ready to rubber stamp these policies, after five years of George Bush’s fear-based, foreign policy debacle that is Iraq, the American people are speaking their wisdom in record numbers this election season, and their voices are summarily rejecting these policies.

I’ve spoken often, as Senator Obama and Rep. Kucinich have, on the politics of fear and the politics of hope and courage.

The politics of hope and courage transcend right or left, and speak directly to the American people, as they are the ones who have been shouldering the burden of George W. Bush’s policies, both financially, and too often with the lives of their loved ones serving.

The President and his party have repeatedly shown a dangerous detachment from the lives of the ordinary Americans, instead choosing to favor moneyed special interests and anti-middle class policies.

Never in our history have tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, been passed during a time of war. Yet Mr. Bush now wants to make them permanent, ignoring the real plight of the average American he claims to represent. I will strongly oppose any attempts to make tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent.

Regarding our foreign policy, Mr. Bush offered lofty rhetoric on what he considers progress in Iraq after misleading this country into war. But the reality, Mr. President, is that a strong America is strong at home first. The people want an end to your war; they want our soldiers home and relief from the burden of paying for this ceaseless war.

And for all of George Bush’s rhetoric regarding what he considers to be the success of the surge, we still see the two most important voices in this debate, the American people and the Iraqi people, go unheeded. Both overwhelmingly support us leaving Iraq, regardless of what Mr. Bush says. When will these voices be heard?

Spending relatively little time speaking of the economic woes of the middle class, and still refusing to admit his party’s failures, Mr. Bush chose instead to offer more fear-based rhetoric. Even in light of the National Intelligence Estimate which showed Iran abandoning its nuclear ambitions years ago, Mr. Bush played once again to fear and suspicion, insisting Iran is an immediate threat, while countries that do possess nuclear weaponry like North Korea warrant no mention.

The President has destroyed his own credibility with his half-truths and agenda driven intelligence in Iraq, and no amount of fear mongering will restore it.
Nor should his fear-based message continue to undermine our Constitution.
His push to grant immunity to giant corporate telecoms that cooperated with his administration in violating the law spying on American citizens once again shows the gulf between his words and actions.

And most notably, the president last night asked nothing of the American people.
The American people, the ordinary citizens and their collective wisdom, the working men and women of our country raising families and pursuing their dreams, are the strongest and most vibrant force for change in our country.
But for all of George Bush’s talk of the wisdom of the ordinary American, his actions show he does not want to listen to that wisdom; he desires only blind obedience.

When an overwhelming majority of Americans are willing to move to single-payer true universal health care, when an overwhelming majority wants us out of Iraq, when our middle class and working families are expected to bear the brunt of the burdens for the benefit of special interests and corporate welfare, the state of the union is not strong, and more of the same, from either political party will not strengthen it.

What will strengthen it, however, is someone willing to take a stand, acknowledge our problems head on, and start working immediately to fix them.
This is neither right nor left, Republican nor Democrat.
This is common sense and courage.

We the people can reclaim our nation from the destruction of the Bush/Hastert years.
We the people can adopt a politics of hope and courage.
We the people can, and must stand together for a new vision of America; an America that rejects partisan politics for people politics, that adopts hope and community over division, that rises to the challenges we now face, and always recognizes that we the people hold the power over our own destinies.