Targeted & Effective

POSTED BY Chris Broussard, 29 January 2008

You might have read that President Bush's State of the Union speech was uninspired and trite. Au contraire; it was targeted and effective. He announced significant new policy, affected public opinion in advance of coming policy fights in Congress and gave the Republican Party a pep-talk in advance of the Presidential Election.

The Executive Order he's signing tomorrow to effectively end earmarks is a major development that will profoundly affect the way Congress does business. Earmarks have been rapidly expanding tools of cronyism, corruption, pork and bad policy under both Republicans and Democrats. There is nothing uninspired about taking a stand against corruption and pork in Congress.

For months, the President has been out of the spotlight and unable to do much to affect public opinion. In most Presidential campaigns, there's a candidate who has some interest in defending the record of the outgoing administration (either himself or his Vice President). Not so in 2008. Every single candidate, down to the last man (or woman) has cast himself as the Candidate of Change. The debates over his policies wrangle with whether they were malicious, mismanaged or just moronic. But there are two sides to every story.

Bush used most of the SOTU trying to get his side of the story out. Many Americans (and I venture to guess, most bloggers) will be unmoved, but that's beside the point. The base of his party needed to hear that No Child Left Behind has some good ideas and deserves to be worked on, and reminded that the FISA law has to be renewed by Friday or there won't be one at all, and that they have prevented more terrorist attacks from occuring.

By couching his discussions of healthcare, taxes, school vouchers and the economy in terms of trusting the American public, he appealed to the core American beliefs in individual freedom and responsibility. It was an ideological appeal to both Republicans and those independents who voted Republican in up until 2006. He shored up support for his current policy agenda, while at the same time undermining the expansive social agenda of the Democrats. He reminded Republicans that the last seven years haven't been an abandonment of their principles.

One-liner of the night: "Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome their enthusiasm, and I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders." Bush effectively put a stop to the cheap theatrics of a few wealthy Democrats who have been professing a desire to be taxed more. "Fine," says Bush, "Put your money where your mouth is." I'm betting the government doesn't get many charitable donations this spring.

And for the first time in months, the President got to tell his side of the story on Iraq where the media actually paid attention. Media coverage of the undeniable progress that has been made in Iraq has been sparse, at best. Meanwhile, the candidates are focused on what mistakes he made or how quickly they can start pulling out. Bush used nearly half of his speech to draw attention to the fact that troops are already coming home, that both significant military and political progress is being made, and that the Iraqis are taking responsibility for their own country. It's not fast, and it's not over, but it's moving markedly in a positive direction.

While the SOTU wasn't filled with lofty oratory and didn't announce far-reaching new programs, Bush framed the current President's policy debates in Republican terms. He announced a historic earmark policy that should give his approval rating a bump. And he reminded Congress and America that he's still the President, his actions still have impact and there's still business to attend to.