State of the Union - 2007
January 26th, 2007
Ugg… I really don’t like the State of the Union addresses. I’m not sure if its the random, meaningless, standing ovations, or the way Congressmen crowd around the President as he (tries to) leave, swamping him with autograph requests and complements of dubious sincerity.
Whatever. It’s an American tradition, started by George Washington himself… so I watch… and cringe with every ovation (do they REALLY need to clap after every sentence??). It is at times like these that I’ve come to really value the FactCheck site and newsletter. I first signed up for their newsletter during the Bush/Kerry election campaigns. They have a great way of cutting through the spin and telling you how it really is. Sometimes the politicians really DO lie, but most of the time they only give you PART of the story. FactCheck does a fantastic job of picking out their points, and giving you ALL of the information behind it.
Here is the summary from their analysis of this years State of the Union address:
We found some puffery in President Bush’s State of the Union address. He proposed a 20 per cent cut in gasoline use, which turns out to be only an 11 per cent decrease from current levels. The President claimed to have cut the federal deficit in half, which hasn’t quite happened yet. He trumpeted the 7.2 million jobs created since the worst of the 2003 job slump, ignoring the 2.7 million jobs lost during the first part of his tenure. And once again Bush spoke of “energy independence,” though the nation’s dependence on imported oil has grown steadily since Bush took office despite all the talk and enactment of his energy legislation.
Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, in a nine-minute response from the Democrats, also chose his data selectively. Trying to put a gloomy cast on a generally upbeat economy, he claimed that worker wages “are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth.” Webb would have been more accurate had he said “national income” rather than “wealth,” but it’s true that real wages (after inflation) are rising nicely after a long stagnation.
I don’t have the time, nor the inclination to get into an analysis of the address. I’m not a fan of George W. Bush, and have never claimed to be. However, I respect the office of the President of the United States, and acknowledge that I don’t have all of the information… or answers, for that matter. That doesn’t mean that I don’t keep reading up. FactCheck has always appeared to have a lot, if not all, the information. They don’t try to make your minds up for you, they just arm you with the tools to come to your own conclusions.
Reading FactCheck makes me feel like I’m being a responsible citizen. I may not be able to do anything about international politics, but at least I wont be walking around blind.
Read FactCheck’s article on the State of the Union: Facts Of The Union
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