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The Lasting Impact of Bush's Speech
Newsweek ^ | 1/31/2002 | Jonathan Alter

Posted on 02/01/2002 3:58:31 PM PST by Utah Girl

Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:56 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

After a president gives a big speech, the analysis comes in waves. First, he's judged on delivery and performance. Then, consensus develops on what the "big news" in the speech was.

FINALLY, AFTER EVERYONE'S attention has begun moving elsewhere, comes some sense of what part of the speech-if any-will have long-term impact. My guess is that what will live on from last night's State of the Union Message is a particular presidential proposal that rated little initial coverage.


(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...


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INteresting take on the speech. I disagree.
1 posted on 02/01/2002 3:58:31 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: summer; Lorena
Ping
2 posted on 02/01/2002 3:58:47 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: Utah Girl
I disagree too, but I think I understand why this author has such a take on it: he, and some others, just can not give GW constant credit for something as crucial as protecting our nation against terrorism.

The opposition claims they give GW this credit, but, they are searching for ways to keep our mind off it. But -- GW gets the credit. Period.
3 posted on 02/01/2002 4:04:23 PM PST by summer
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To: Utah Girl
Many conservatives decry national service, community service, etc. as somehow promoting socialism. I disagree. Actually working in these communities with real problems and real people (versus pontificating solutions from Ivy League Ivory Towers) has turned many liberals into conservatives.
4 posted on 02/01/2002 4:08:11 PM PST by Rubber Duckie
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To: Utah Girl
Bush is gonna look like a Mia T drawing after a while.


5 posted on 02/01/2002 4:09:37 PM PST by The Raven
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To: Rubber Duckie
It's only promoting socialism if the service isn't voluntary. I think President Bush's suggestion Tuesday night was great, he challenged us to volunteer, he didn't conscript all of us or anything, or force us all to feed the homeless. He is leaving it up to use as to what we want to do (and if we even want to do it.) Great comment by you, thanks.
6 posted on 02/01/2002 4:10:34 PM PST by Utah Girl
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To: Utah Girl
Alter grasping for something to write about ...
7 posted on 02/01/2002 4:20:57 PM PST by JmyBryan
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To: The Raven
Oh God! No!
8 posted on 02/01/2002 4:21:34 PM PST by billhilly
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To: Utah Girl
I agree with you, Great leaders set the goal they don't always tell exactly how to get there. That is where talent and innovation from individuals make great build a great nation.
9 posted on 02/01/2002 4:30:21 PM PST by Trapper
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To: Utah Girl
I agree with you, Great leaders set the goal they don't always tell exactly how to get there. That is where talent and innovation from individuals make a great contribution and build a great nation.
10 posted on 02/01/2002 4:31:34 PM PST by Trapper
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To: Utah Girl
Me too. I think he honed in on the most-likely-to-be-completely-forgotton aspect of the speech.
11 posted on 02/01/2002 4:32:01 PM PST by Huck
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To: Rubber Duckie
. Actually working in these communities with real problems and real people (versus pontificating solutions from Ivy League Ivory Towers) has turned many liberals into conservatives.

It's helping people who want to help, or learn how to help, themselves that appeals to conservatives.

12 posted on 02/01/2002 4:41:34 PM PST by bloodmeridian
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To: summer
 

Jonathan Alter doesn't have a Q ERTY6 clue the clintons were utter failures (and the GOP had better exploit it) BUMP!

We must take the offensive.

Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference today (C-SPAN), Bob Livingston dispatched "it's the economy, stupid," the clinton mantra -- (and together with the FBI files, the only thing that kept the co-rapists in the Oval Office and out of the slammer) -- with an incisiveness and toughness not usually associated with the GOP. (Is the right finally getting it?)

Livingston said the "it's the economy, stupid" clinton scheme demonstrated that the clintons and their gang "are either stupid, themselves, or they were derelict."

Fraudulent Democrat Scheme Fails as Bush Soars
 
BUSH: NATIONAL SECURITY 1st PRIORITY. . ."I will not wait on events, while dangers gather."
 
THE CLINTON LEGACY PLACED IN STARK RELIEF
 
by Mia T, January 31, 2002
 

by any measure, the Carville-Shrum scheme to attack Bush by clintonoid compartmentalization ("praise the Bush war effort / pan the Bush character and economy") isn't working. Ask any pollster or pundit. 

It's the terrorism...and character...stupid

The Carville-Shrum scheme fails because the schemers fail to understand that terrorism necessarily subsumes the economy, that "it's the terrorism, stupid," to paraphrase Carville. The Carville-Shrum scheme fails also because the schemers fail to understand that bill clinton, to paraphrase Lloyd Benson, is no George Bush...and conversely...and the people know it.
 
But perhaps the most compelling reason that the Carville-Shrum scheme fails is that it is a fraud...and the people know it.
 

Compartmentalization scheme a fraud

Does anyone still sentient after eight years of the clintons really believe that the clintons and their "infrastructure" really want Bush to succeed where the co-rapists failed so utterly?

To sabotage Bush is merely to extend into realtime the method of legacy-building historically preferred by the clintons; that is, trash other presidents in an effort to hoist their own sorry collective heft from history's dustbin.

The clintons are constitutionally incapable of understanding that the bottom line is not power or money or Nobel Peace Prizes, and certainly not misbegotten power or money or Nobel Peace Prizes.

They and their minions continue to undermine the Bush war effort even as they assume poses and mouth poll-tested phrases to the contrary. But Bush sees right through this.

In his State of the Union speech, Bush told us:

Our first priority must always be the security of our nation... I will not wait on events, while dangers gather.  I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer... We can't stop short.  If we stop now -- leaving terror camps intact and terror states unchecked -- our sense of security would be false and temporary...The price of indifference would be catastrophic.

This was a direct blow to the collective clinton scheme...and paunch...and legacy.


13 posted on 02/01/2002 4:58:19 PM PST by Mia T
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To: The Raven
Not to worry. The deconstruction of Dubya is beyond comprehension. ;)
 
P.S. I was right about Gore's beard. The jury is still out on the horns.
 

 


14 posted on 02/01/2002 5:22:14 PM PST by Mia T
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To: Rubber Duckie
Nothing wrong with community service, but Americorps is idiotic because it provides funding for people who "volunteer" for certain community programs.

Where I come from that ain't "community service," -- it's called "a job."

15 posted on 02/01/2002 5:43:14 PM PST by Alberta's Child
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To: Utah Girl
Folks,I have it from someone that spoke to GW just this week that he is NOT going to fool around.

Time to consider working in a defense plant.

16 posted on 02/01/2002 5:50:29 PM PST by tet68
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To: Alberta's Child
Americorps is idiotic because it provides funding for people who "volunteer" for certain community programs.

Look at it this way-- a moderate amount of funding to provide a volunteer a ride or a living allowance could head off massive 'rat funding to hire a lifetime bureaucrat to do half the job and three to supervise.

I once worked for an NPO which got a call from some Federal program wanting to place an older worker. They would pay everything, all we had to do was give him a job to do. Well, we had a bunch of older buildings needing painting and this fellow was glad to do the job. They say he had a problem drinking, but he always worked when he was there. One day three people showed up from the local government office to check on him. I asked him why the interest and he said it was the assignment-- he'd done work before but when someone sent from Washington arrived, all of the field supervisors had to quit drinking coffee and leave the office. As far as he knew, he was one of the few people actually being served by the program, so he was a popular guy to check on, particularly with his "drinking problem" rumors.

The story had a happy ending. After about a month on the job, one of our contractors noticed the work ethic of the guy and hired him away.

A "volunteer" like a retired school teacher could've done the same job as those three lifetime "field representatives" and at least an equal number back in the office.

17 posted on 02/01/2002 6:08:52 PM PST by Rubber Duckie
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To: Utah Girl
These "journalists" sure have to twist and wriggle, degrade and decry, in order to push their own agendas.
18 posted on 02/01/2002 6:11:01 PM PST by lds23
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To: Alberta's Child
Where I come from that ain't "community service," -- it's called "a job."

Maybe you call working for $9600 a year a job, I call it subsistence. You dont expect these people to volunteer 40 hours a week and then go work another 40 so they can have a roof over there head and three meals a day. Or maybe you want them to live with "mom & dad" while they do their volunteer work.

19 posted on 02/01/2002 6:41:52 PM PST by Dave S
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To: Utah Girl
Absolutely! The presidency is a "bully pulpit" and Bush has used it to challenge us to give (not for the government to take) of our time, a commodity truly far more precious than money, to the country.

Although I've already given more than two years with active duty and reserve military service, I will look for more ways to make volunteering a part of my everyday life, if only to set an example. It's curious, in essence this is his father's 'thousand points of light' put more plainly and understandably. I'm sure at some point the country will tire of President Bush's plainspoken manner and yearn for more uplifting rhetoric, but Bush's value will endure. Recall it was Lincoln's plain short address at Gettysburg that is remembered (and still memorized) today, not the then famous orator Edward Evertt's formal speech in the high style that was the centerpiece of the Gettysburg ceremony.

20 posted on 02/01/2002 6:42:06 PM PST by CatoRenasci
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