President George W. Bush stood his ground before a brazenly defiant bi-partisan Congress this evening and laid out what has to have been one of the most timid and unambitious speeches of his presidency.
His defense of "freedom is on the march" seemed like it came out of a can and, in light of the Hamas victory in Palestine and the gains of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, its tone of triumphalism rang almost hollow.
His challenge to Iran seemed particularly bland and innocuous. He almost sounded like an echo of John Kerry in linking US policy and a resolution of the Iran nuclear crisis to our European allies.
He spoke nicely to the Iranian people themselves but gave them nothing to hope for in the way of American intervention or even any cause for optimism that the United States would step in and help them should they attempt civil unrest or a counter-revolution against the ayotollahs.
North Korea was mentioned only in passing, alongside Zimbabwe and Burma. On the other hand, Israel was not mentioned at all, an omission that, frankly, concerns me .
The tributes to US military personnel and their families were, perhaps, the most sincere and effective parts of his speech. For the most part, they received bi-partisan support. The father, mother and widow of SSgt Dan Clay, killed in Fallujah last month, while appropriate, also seemed somewhat staged to counter the Cindy Sheehan outraged-mother-as-a-victim media circus. The word "exploited" even flitted (momentarily) through my thoughts.
Cindy herself had received a gallery pass from a Democratic Congresswoman but was, according to news reports, hurried away in handcuffs before the President entered. Why? It's not exactly clear but apparently she had a rolled-up banner of some sort on her lap that she was either actually beginning to unfurl or appeared to be preparing to do so, perhaps later, during the speech.
Bush did lob a few shots over the Democrat's bow but with little effect. He effectively defended his warrantless NSA "terrorist surveillance" policy (providing an opportunity for the cameras to zoom in on an almost bemused Hillary Clinton, who remained seated as the Republican side of the aisle rose in a standing ovation).
The response was similar when Bush called for the full reinstatement of the "Patriot Act." The Democrats took a direct hit to the chin but did not seem overwhelmed by the jab.
On the matter of Social Security reform Bush handed the Democrats a birthday present when he reminded everyone that his reform proposal had been defeated. The entire Democratic side of the aisle rose with applause, cheers and, for the only time during the evening a celebration of triumph.
Article comments
1 - Mark Edward Manning
Bird, you are right that we need to help the Iranian people in their attempt to take back their society. After all, it wasn't so long ago that Iranian soccer fans went on a rampage chanting "Death to the Islamic republic!" on a Tehran street. So there is some incredible human passion for freedom to be tapped there. But Bush wisely chose to be careful about it. We need to work surreptitiously to help pro-Western Iranian citizens take back their country. Right now, we would be wise not to antagonize Iran's power structure blatantly. Antagonizing them covertly is much more preferable IMHO.
As for the rest of Bush's speech, yeah, it was bland as all-get-out. Admitting that we're addicted to oil was the highlight of the whole address.