Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Bush is vulnerable
Last night's State of the Union was a weak performance. The last two such speeches I've seen him give were much more effective. This one seemed to just be heavy handed - particularly where drugs and gay marriage were concerned. Bush needs to appease his base on gay marriage but he can't talk like they do in terms of a moral apocalypse. That takes you into culture war country. A speech as partisan as this one is going to damage Bush's ability to pose as a bipartisan figure. He hasn't been one, but speeches like this can be used to mask one's partisan purposes.
There really wasn't a lot of vision being expressed. The previous day's speeches in Iowa had a lot more of that to offer and comparing the two - as different as a victory or concession speech is from the State of the Union - illustrates Bush's fundamental problem. He doesn't really have a grand vision. What he does have is a grab bag of agendas he needs to meet. This is a historic moment for a great Democrat with vision to step into this vacuum, just as FDR, JFK and Woodrow Wilson did, and I think that either Kerry or Edwards could do it.
Last night's State of the Union was a weak performance. The last two such speeches I've seen him give were much more effective. This one seemed to just be heavy handed - particularly where drugs and gay marriage were concerned. Bush needs to appease his base on gay marriage but he can't talk like they do in terms of a moral apocalypse. That takes you into culture war country. A speech as partisan as this one is going to damage Bush's ability to pose as a bipartisan figure. He hasn't been one, but speeches like this can be used to mask one's partisan purposes.
There really wasn't a lot of vision being expressed. The previous day's speeches in Iowa had a lot more of that to offer and comparing the two - as different as a victory or concession speech is from the State of the Union - illustrates Bush's fundamental problem. He doesn't really have a grand vision. What he does have is a grab bag of agendas he needs to meet. This is a historic moment for a great Democrat with vision to step into this vacuum, just as FDR, JFK and Woodrow Wilson did, and I think that either Kerry or Edwards could do it.
