Bush's whitewashing address

Subscribe

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Vladimir Simonov.) -- The annual address of the U.S. President to the nation is entitled "State of the Union Address." But the fifth address delivered by President George W. Bush on Tuesday January 31 seemed like an attempt to whitewash his administration's actions.

There was a lady in the audience representing those in whose eyes the president would have liked to look his best. A few minutes before the address, police detained Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist and mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. She was handcuffed and taken outside for wearing an anti-war T-shirt.

Americans' rejection of the Bush policy in Iraq is not the only factor behind the critical fall of the president's rating to 41% in the last 12 months. His administration's clumsy efforts following Hurricane Katrina, a series of corruption scandals involving the pillars of the Republican Party, disclosure of a network of secret prisons in Europe, and lastly the president's personal involvement in the anti-constitutional program of telephone tapping provided the background against which the president had to deliver a masterpiece address aimed at giving a new lease on life to his waning popularity.

Bill Clinton managed to appease and charm the enraged country at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Unfortunately, George Bush failed to repeat his predecessor's feat on January 31.

He did not tell Americans anything substantial about the painful Iraqi problem. He again announced an imminent victory of the U.S.-led military coalition. "I am confident in our plan for victory; I am confident in the skill and spirit of our military. Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning," Bush said. He argued, "A sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would abandon our Iraqi allies to death and prison (...) and show that a pledge from America means little."

In fact, he has said this so many times before that a repetition of these words did not warm the souls of tens of millions of Americans who share Cindy Sheehan's grief.

Worse still, Bush could not explain the shocking failure of the U.S. Middle Eastern policy of the last few days. The idea of spreading the American model of freedom there has resulted in the victory of a terrorist organization at the election in Palestine. Hamas would not have rallied such nationwide support but for the U.S. military campaign in Iraq.

The president called on Hamas to "recognize Israel, disarm and reject terrorism, and work for lasting peace." However, the audience seemed to think that it was too good to become reality soon.

Skeptics say that the U.S. State Department seems to have embraced the teaching of Karl Marx and is waiting for "the social being to determine consciousness." The American administration is waiting for Hamas fighters with portable mine-throwers to change under the weight of responsibility of power into harmless state officials in protective sleeves.

George Bush was fantastically lucky this time: he did not confuse Iraq and Iran. He described the latter as "a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people."

The president deemed it possible to appeal to Iranians over the heads of their leaders, who were elected in a democratic, even if slightly faulty, procedure. He decided to speak directly to Iranian people: "America respects you, and we respect your country," he said. "We respect your right to choose your own future and win your own freedom." Freedom from their current leaders, apparently.

That revolutionary appeal, just as the rest of the address, was broadcast live in Farsi, one of the main languages in Iran. After this faux pas, no one can encourage the Iranian leadership to continue nuclear program talks with the Untied States, Russia and the European Trio.

The rest of Bush's speech was full of generalizations and grandiose but, experts say, unsubstantiated projects. In particular, the president admitted to America's addiction to Middle Eastern oil and suggested replacing "more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." Market analysts were shocked, as they know that in 20 years from now every fourth barrel of oil will be produced in the Middle East.

Bush praised the American economy, which "is preeminent," he said, "but we cannot afford to be complacent." In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors, like China and India, he said. Such deliberations sounded out of place at a time of a colossal budget deficit.

The first reactions of Bush's colleagues to his address are super-critical. No matter what he was speaking about - catastrophe in Iraq, the mess he made of the budget or the horrendous cost of corruption that is eating away at the administration - all of this spoke "more of a state of his personal self-denial," said Congressman Lloyd Dogget (D - TX).

Images (Hurricane Katrina)

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала