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Last night’s State of the Union had a little something for
all UCLA students.
For fans of President Bush, there were the trademark injections
of wry humor into an otherwise very serious speech. For oratorical
fans, there were some elegant turns of phrase ““ “Even
7,000 miles away, across oceans and continents, on mountaintops and
in caves, you will not escape the justice of this
nation.”
For Hillary-haters, there were multiple shots of the former
First Lady looking alternately bored, sour and for a finale,
bored-sour. For Hillary-lovers, there was … nothing. Anyone crazy
enough to vote for that battle-ax was surely voting with their eyes
shut, ears plugged and brain scrambled.
Perhaps the strangest moment in the address was the highlighting
of jolly old Ted Kennedy, with a face shaped like nothing so much
as a dorm-room refrigerator. The president pointed him out as an
example of bipartisanship for his role in passing the most recent
educational bill:
“Republicans and Democrats worked together to achieve
historic education reform so no child in American will be left
behind. I was proud to work with members of both parties … and I
was so proud of our work I even had nice things to say about my
friend Ted Kennedy.”
Note that he was praised for bipartisanship, not looks,
sobriety, or an ability to keep young female friends from
drowning.
To be fair, the speech was one-sided enough ““ it was only
right to throw the Democrats a bone, or in Teddy’s case, a
seven-bone roast. There was little for the liberal community to
love, given the references to a God not named Marx, to a strong
military and an attitude toward terrorism focused more on stopping
the act than sitting down and working through a shoe-bomber’s
existential angst.
And no, for the sort of pony-tailed professors who play Bob
Marley in class, when President Bush expressed our new credo as
“Let’s roll,” he was making a metaphorical
reference, not encouraging you to roll a joint.
For conservatives, the president’s speech was a veritable
buffet ““ we’re left to wonder, reading through the
transcript, what juicy morsel to savor first. Perhaps most stirring
was the lectern-pounder, “My budget includes the largest
increase in defense spending in two decades, because while the
price of freedom and security is high, it is never too high:
whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay it.”
It’s enough to give leftists a chill, as if it were 1980
all over again, and Ronald Reagan was back in the saddle. For the
rest of America, Bush’s strong belief in the necessity of a
strong military should be a relief:
“My budget nearly doubles funding for a sustained strategy
of homeland security, focused on four key areas: bioterrorism,
emergency response, airport and border security, and improved
intelligence.”
Never again will our buildings crumble because of weaknesses
brought on by an eight-year administration more interested in
chasing skirts than terrorists.
Unilateralism was in refreshing abundance, despite what the
talking heads seemed to think.
Our president spoke not of nation-building, he spoke of
cooperation when necessary:
“And America needs citizens to extend the compassion of
our country to every part of the world. Through the gathering
momentum of millions of acts of service and decency and kindness, I
know we can overcome evil with greater good.”
Perhaps the most important point in the speech regarded the
coalition against terror: “Make no mistake: If they do not
act, America will.” It’s vintage W., and purely
American ““ we welcome your help, but we will go on without
you if necessary.