The State of the Union 2007: A Civil Libertarian Takes a Hard Look
Wednesday January 24, 2007
Full Coverage: Bush Delivers His Seventh State of the Union Address
From a policy point of view, the State of the Union is the most important regular speech the President of the United States can give. The speech is especially important for Bush right now--polling at the lowest level of any president since Watergate, facing a new opposition party majority in both houses of Congress, trying to sell the American public on his decision to escalate a disastrous war that will already diminish his legacy. But there's even more to it than that.
When President Bush gives his final State of the Union address in January 2008, Congress will still be in Democratic hands and Democrats and Republicans will be battling in presidential primaries to decide who the next president will be. President Bush will be in no position to suggest any new policy initiatives. His role will essentially be limited to continuing current policy, dealing with emerging crises, and trying not to make his party look any worse than it has to in an election year.
In other words, this was probably President Bush's last at-bat. Some of us already think of it as his final State of the Union address because it will define the policymaking agenda for the rest of his presidency. If he had any bold new agendas to suggest, last night would have been his last good chance to suggest them. The next substantive policy-oriented State of the Union address will be delivered in 2009 by a different president.
So, taking all of this into account, what did President Bush talk about?
Let's begin with a list of things he never mentioned:
President Bush also outlined the final two years of his domestic policy agenda on three important civil liberties issues: school choice, immigration reform, and the war on terror.
Take a deep breath, my friends. This is what gridlock smells like--and for civil libertarians, that can be a very sweet smell indeed.
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When President Bush gives his final State of the Union address in January 2008, Congress will still be in Democratic hands and Democrats and Republicans will be battling in presidential primaries to decide who the next president will be. President Bush will be in no position to suggest any new policy initiatives. His role will essentially be limited to continuing current policy, dealing with emerging crises, and trying not to make his party look any worse than it has to in an election year.
In other words, this was probably President Bush's last at-bat. Some of us already think of it as his final State of the Union address because it will define the policymaking agenda for the rest of his presidency. If he had any bold new agendas to suggest, last night would have been his last good chance to suggest them. The next substantive policy-oriented State of the Union address will be delivered in 2009 by a different president.
So, taking all of this into account, what did President Bush talk about?
Let's begin with a list of things he never mentioned:
- Abortion. President Bush made an oblique reference to abortion in his 2006 speech, as part of a statement rejecting stem-cell research funding. No such comments in 2007. And for that matter, no mention of the stem-cell research controversy, either.
- Same-sex marriage. In 2006, President Bush disparaged "activist courts that try to redefine marriage." Now, facing down a low approval rating and a Democratic Congress, he has abandoned that tack. The Federal Marriage Amendment is no longer on the table.
- Hurricane Katrina. Okay, no major gaffe there. The fact that he didn't mention it last year? That was a major gaffe.
President Bush also outlined the final two years of his domestic policy agenda on three important civil liberties issues: school choice, immigration reform, and the war on terror.
School Choice
What President Bush Said:We can lift student achievement even higher ... by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose something better.What President Bush Meant:
He's probably going to make another play in favor of private school vouchers. Proponents argue that school vouchers work, but there are serious constitutional problems with the concept.
Immigration Reform
What President Bush Said:[W]e cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border -- and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won't have to try to sneak in -- and that will leave border agents free to chase down drug smugglers, and criminals, and terrorists.What President Bush Meant:
We will enforce our immigration laws at the work site, and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers -- so there is no excuse left for violating the law. We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. And we need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country -- without animosity and without amnesty.
Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil, and conclusive debate -- so that you can pass, and I can sign, comprehensive immigration reform into law.
Immigration reform is one of the few areas where President Bush might actually be happy to be dealing with a Democratic, rather than Republican, Congress. Look at the two immigration bills passed by the Republican Congress last year. In the Senate, which was moderate, we had the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA), which had a guest worker program and a citizenship path for undocumented immigrants already in the country.
President Bush was known to be a supporter of this reform, but the Republican House--dominated by representatives in the South and Midwest who were playing off anti-immigrant sentiment, often of a racist nature--had already passed the infamous H.R. 4437, a draconian bill that called for the deportation of 11 million American residents and the imprisonment of anyone who helped them get by, including family members, clergy, and so forth. If enacted into law and consistently enforced, it would have transformed American society in a very radical way and essentially established a police state under the pretense of dealing with undocumented immigration. President Bush made no secret of opposing this bill, saying that the deportation of 11 million American residents simply isn't an option.
That's something a Democrat might have said, and President Bush will find a Democratic House much more willing to accept a proposal like CIRA than the Republican House was last year. I have little doubt that comprehensive immigration reform will be passed and signed into law in 2007, that it will probably be identical in most respects to the Senate's CIRA proposal, and that it may well go down in history as the greatest domestic policy achievement of the entire Bush administration because it will provide the first sustainable and humane long-term undocumented immigration policy in U.S. history.
The War on Terror
What President Bush Said:In the sixth year since our nation was attacked, I wish I could report to you that the dangers have ended. They have not. And so it remains the policy of this government to use every lawful and proper tool of intelligence, diplomacy, law enforcement, and military action to do our duty, to find these enemies, and to protect the American people ...What President Bush Meant:
The war on terror we fight today is a generational struggle that will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to others. That is why it is important to work together so our Nation can see this great effort through. Both parties and both branches should work in close consultation. And this is why I propose to establish a special advisory council on the war on terror, made up of leaders in Congress from both political parties. We will share ideas for how to position America to meet every challenge that confronts us. And we will show our enemies abroad that we are united in the goal of victory.
"Okay, you got me."The central message of the State of the Union 2007? President Bush has transformed from a triumphant president with a supportive Congress to a lame duck president with an oppositional Congress. He knows that the disastrous Iraq War will probably define his legacy, and he's looking for ways to mitigate that by emphasizing the economic recovery, emphasizing the fact that the United States has not suffered a major terrorist attack since 9/11, and proposing moderate, bipartisan legislation.
President Bush knows that he has gotten everything he is likely to get from Congress with respect to surveillance powers, alternate tribunal systems, and so forth. Does this mean he will stop spying on American citizens or violating the human rights of detainees? Certainly not. But it does mean that he will stop asking Congress to sanction his policies. Under a Republican Congress, he could--and did--rely on members of his party to pass legislation authorizing his executive actions when they were willing to do so, and to at least sweep investigations under the rug when they weren't. He will get no such deference from the Democrats, and he knows better than to ask for it outright as he so boldly did in 2006.
Take a deep breath, my friends. This is what gridlock smells like--and for civil libertarians, that can be a very sweet smell indeed.
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Comments
How can GRIDLOCK be a sweet smell to Anyone? Utterly stupid and there is no other word for it. Stating that the United States would be a Police State for attempting to control ILEGAL ALIENS is completely absurd. We ARE, by the way, indeed a Police State already. We have nowhere near the Freedom’s we once had. Using an Administration Perpetrated Act of Horror upon the country they were sworn to protect, as a reason for spying upon citizens, is treasonable. If you are happy with the State of the Union…… you are, unfortunately, a person with a ton of things to learn about the State of the Union.
Have you seen this inovative documentary film called, “Execution Film?” It is an amazing experience of death row and a man’s last seven days spent with the film crew. Don Cabana, a warden that has overseen three executuions in his Career, was a technical advisor in this compelling doc. Check out the trailer at www.executionfilm.com
ROCKEY IN THE NEWS TODAY, January 17, 2007:
Today Rockey Vaccarella was on Fox News Network with Neil Cavuto to discuss the current situation in the New Orleans region in respect to the progress of the rebuilding effort. Rocky’s interview was live on FOX NEWS across America today at 3:30pm CST from the WVUE Television studios in New Orleans, Louisiana. Rockey told Cavuto that he is concerned that the rebuilding is moving slowly and that his mission is to continue to remind America that the job is not finished and not to forget the people of the New Orleans area and Gulf Coast region.
Rockey also told the FOX News Anchor that President Bush and him discussed the 110 billion dollars that was sent to help the people in need during their August meeting in the Oval Office. The President told Rockey that the money sent to the region was the largest sum of money ever spent on American soil to help people affected by a natural disaster.
Rockey’s new documentary film FORGOTTEN ON THE BAYOU: Rockey’s Mission to the White House is complete and takes the audience behind the scenes of his struggle to survive Katrina and his personal mission to deliver his message of hope to the President of the United States and the American people. The film’s producers are now seeking distribution. The film is represented by David Garber of Lantern Lane Entertainment in Calabasas, California.
To Jerry–
I think that gridlock is the best possible situation for the government to ever be in, because it means it is ultimately doing less– less damage, less taxing for the ever growing amount of programs, in sum, less expansion of the government, and hopefully less involvement in our personal lives, commercial transactions and anything else.
And let’s be honest, in spite of all the turmoil and certainly debatable problems, the US is still a really great place to live (and I can say that with at least some authority, having lived in Europe for the last 3 years).