More on the SOTU
TNR’s liberal Ryan Lizza sums up the depressing SOTU:
Every White House loves the annual State of the Union speech because it supposedly showcases the president for a full primetime hour in all his imperial glory. But this is the first State of the Union I can remember where the president ended the evening diminished in stature rather than enhanced.First, we witnessed the death of the great-man theory of Bush. The Bush presidency, in the minds of its most fervent supporters, has been built on the idea that Bush is a visionary with bold ideas that he forcefully pushes even when they sacrifice his own popularity. But the bold agenda is gone. His “addicted to oil” line will garner lots of headlines, but his actual oil-independence plan is so modest–tens of millions of dollars in a two trillion dollar annual budget–that it is barely worth mentioning. Instead of re-arguing the case for his Social Security plan, he called for another Social Security commission. The much-hyped health care proposals were mentioned in passing. His fancy American Competitiveness Initiative–a research and development tax credit and more money for math and science–seems reasonable but forgettable.
Second, there was very little in the speech for conservatives to rally around. No bold new tax cuts. No line-in-the-sand warning to Iran. No culture war rhetoric. Combined with the Dick Morris-style domestic initiatives and the incessant appeals for bipartisanship, Bush came before Congress a seemingly humbled, even emasculated, president.
And, in the surprise of the night, conservatives became Bush’s target. “In a complex and challenging time,” Bush said, “the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting–yet it ends in danger and decline.”
…
Bush’s isolationist-bashing was really aimed at the growing ranks of Buchananite Republicans. In fact, later in the speech he took a second swipe at them on immigration: “We hear claims that immigrants are somehow bad for the economy–even though this economy could not function without them. All these are forms of economic retreat, and they lead in the same direction–toward a stagnant and second-rate economy.”
Such a waste. Why, oh why does Bush insist on poking conservatives in the eye on the one issue that can help crush the Democrats in 2006? Sigh.
— PoliPundit