Opinion Pieces Address President Bush’s Upcoming State of the Union Address
Summaries of two opinion pieces related to Bush's State of the Union address on Monday appear below.
- Jacob Weisberg, New York Times: Bush's first State of the Union speech "points to the very different sort of president he might have been" if he had followed through with pledges of compassionate conservatism and to "expand Medicare benefits" and "extend access to health care," Weisberg, the editor of Slate, writes in a Times opinion piece. According to Weisberg, although Bush "never completely abandoned the compassionate conservatism we glimpsed that night seven years ago," some "gestures tended to linger in the air only as long as it took Mr. Bush to make them." However, Weisberg notes that some of Bush's "signature programs, like his initiative to provide AIDS drugs to Africans, have had meaningful effects." Weisberg continues, "The Compassionate Conservative will surely pay us a final visit [on Monday]. He remains an appealing character, but a largely fictional one" (Weisberg, New York Times, 1/28).
- Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), Washington Post: "As President Bush prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address [on Monday], it's fair to judge his tenure by assessing the country he inherited and the country he will leave behind," Emanuel, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, writes in a Post opinion piece. "By any examination, the Bush administration has weakened the nation," Emanuel writes, citing the doubling of health care premiums to $12,000 per family, up from $6,000 in 2001. Emanuel said that to "rebuild America at home," the country needs a "New Deal for the New Economy" plan, which would build "on the successes of covering segments of the population through Medicare, Medicaid, the military's Tri-Care program and" SCHIP to provide two of the "most vulnerable" groups with health care: children and early retirees. According to Emanuel, "Implementing the New Deal for the New Economy ... won't be easy" and "[c]hange won't happen overnight," but "enacting these domestic initiatives" is "essential" (Emanuel, Washington Post, 1/28).
