Posted on 01/30/2008 1:41:40 PM PST by knighthawk
George W. Bush's final State of the Union address has been portrayed as largely irrelevant.
First, because of the extraordinary drama of the presidential race in which there is (unusually) no reigning vice-president running to give the White House an active stake in events. Added to this is Mr Bush's unpopularity, which makes contenders for the Republican nomination eager to distance themselves from him.
But for all that, there were some themes in this speech that should be of real interest on the British scene.
While only a year ago, it might have been expected that Mr Bush would be leaving office having failed in the most significant area of his foreign policy, but with confidence in the economy high, the opposite turns out to be the case.
Having adopted a post-Rumsfeld military strategy in Iraq of pouring far greater numbers of troops into the area and making a wholehearted commitment to ensuring stability, Mr Bush has reversed the Iraqi decline into chaos. The troop "surge" led by Lt Gen David Petraeus has been startlingly successful in reducing levels of violence in Baghdad and has in effect turned around the prospects for that country.
Then there was Mr Bush's plea for his $76 billion economic stimulus package - tax cuts for middle-income earners - to be passed quickly with bipartisan support in Congress.
Interestingly from a British point of view, in America there seems to be a clear consensus in the mainstream of both parties that tax cuts will increase economic growth and help to avoid recession.
The only questions are to which sections of the population they would be best directed. To those voters who claimed that they would be happy to pay more tax, Mr Bush had a pithy response: he welcomed their "enthusiasm" and agreed to accept their contributions by cheque or postal order. Most Americans, he said, believed that they were paying quite enough tax already.
The Bush presidency has only six months of active life until Congress adjourns in the summer, but its final days will not be without consequence for whoever is to follow.
Ping
If only this were so.
C’mon now, Hillary and Barack are both pledging to cut the taxes of people who don’t pay any.
The Brits are proof positive oh how much damage too much taxes causes on a people.
"... is minimal and far out-weighed by the damage he has done. Of course, that's about what we expected when we voted for a "moderate", and that's why I'll never do it again."
How's that?
THAT is PERFECT!!!
“Added to this is Mr Bush’s unpopularity, which makes contenders for the Republican nomination eager to distance themselves from him.”
Do these people even follow our primaries? It doesn’t seem like it.
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