Tuesday's State of the Union Address should offer Americans compelling viewing. After the GOP's electoral disaster in November and the resounding thud that greeted the "surge" in Iraq, the 2007 SOTU can be said to officially mark the last throes of the Bush presidency.
In anticipation of tomorrow night's presidential flight of fantasy, here are 10 things to look for in the 2007 State of the Union:
1. An Unhealthy Vision
As his Saturday radio address made clear, President Bush will lead with health care in his domestic agenda. But as Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania and other states explore potential new approaches to universal coverage, President Bush will recycle his earlier dead-on-arrival prescriptions such as association health plans and medical savings accounts. His call for tax breaks for health insurance purchases combined with new taxes on employee health care benefits is especially disturbing, based as it on the mistaken assumption that Americans over-utilize their existing medical coverage. The 46 million uninsured will enjoy a belly laugh at that misguided applause line.
2. Surge Protector
The President will no doubt make a full-throated defense of his planned troop surge in Iraq. Using rhetoric falling just short of his campaign 2006 equation of Democrats and terrorists, Bush will speak of a new way forward, of fighting them there and not here, about a vital front in the war on terror, his strategy is victory, and liberty as God's gift to humanity. Mindful of 2002's abortive "Axis of Evil," Bush instead will merely refer to Iran and Syria as "a coupla points of evil."
3. Faux Iraq-9/11 Link Redux
A central tactic in Bush's defense of his calamitous Iraq policy will be the mindless repetition of not-subtle rhetorical linkages between Iraq and the attacks of September 11. While President Bush long ago acknowledged that Saddam's Iraq had no role in assisting Al Qaeda in the 9/11 plot ("No, we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th"), he will speak of Iraq and Afghanistan interchangeably while discussing the "people who attacked us." At this point in failed presidency, after all, George W. Bush has nothing to offer but fear itself.
4. Sacrificial Sham
In one of his more nakedly cynical rhetorical devices, President Bush will speak of the sacrifices Americans must make to win the war in Iraq and compare this generation to those who fought and conquered fascism in World War II. Bush will, of course, overlook the tax increases (91% top marginal rate!), the casualties, the 15 million man military army and rationing the Greatest Generation endured. Bush's notion of sacrifice in the post-9/11 world: go shopping.
5. Culture of Life Redux
No Bush address would be complete without the requisite laundry list of the American Taliban's supposed "culture of life." Coming just three days after the President proclaimed National Sanctity of Life Day, look for Bush to go on a jihad about stem cell research, fetal pain and perhaps even the mythical "post-abortion syndrome."
6. Energy Shortage
Energy independence will once again be a Bush talking point. Look for the President to go on the war path against the House and its vote to repeal tax breaks for energy companies that don't need them.
7. Warming to Global Warming
The Guardian and other sources report that President Bush in a tectonic shift may speak of global warming and the need to address global climate change. After all, many of the President's evangelical allies, most of whom believe the world is only 6000 years old, are apparently now concerned about fire and brimstone not in hell but on the earth's surface. I'll believe Bush's turnabout on global warming when I see it. After all, he answers to a higher authority - Karl Rove.
8. The Spend and Not Tax Conservative
President Bush will claim credit for a robust economy, which he will attribute to his tax cuts and the salutary effects of redistributing billions of dollars to the wealthiest Americans. As for taking accountability for the massive growth in the federal budget and deficit since assuming office in 2001, not so much.
9. The New Bipartisanship: The Democratic Deficit
Crowing about a false halving of the federal budget deficit (the Bush White House cooked the pre-election books in 2004 to show a comically - and mythically - large budget gap), the President will pretend to draw a hard line on federal spending. The line item veto, Bush will demand, is essential to prevent tax and spend Democrats from busting the budget.
10. Laura Bush: Gang Banger
As I wrote last year, another staple of the Dubya State of the Union is the assignment of one or more ill-defined family-focused initiatives to his wife Laura. In 2006, Laura was made the point person for the "Helping America's Youth Initiative," which encourages "caring adults to get involved in the life of a child." The year before, the First Lady's task was to broker a peace deal between the Bloods and the Cripps (which as Ann Coulter subsequently taught us, is the model for understanding Baghdad). That, apparently, is still on Laura's to-do list.
President Bush's past State of the Union speeches are available in the Perrspectives Document Library here.