Same old soup in same old bowl

January 30, 2008


Same old soup in same old bowl

US President George W. Bush's final annual State of the Union address on Monday was on predictable lines. He used the occasion to defend his deeply unpopular handling of what Americans say are their top two concerns: economic turmoil at home and the US military crisis in Iraq.
The president, who bows out of the White House in one year from now, could only promise the American people that help was on the way on the economic front. He shifted the onus to the US Congress by urging the speedy apporval of a $150-billion stimulus package he agreed last week with congressional leaders. That package, if an when approved — the Senate has come up with its own proposal — is unlikely to have an immediate impact on American lives, and the American people know that.
The American people have also come to realise that the Bush administration never drew up and does not have an exit strategy from Iraq and that the US military is likely to remain there for many years despite the steady loss of American soldiers.
On the whole, the Americans find the situation bleak with worries about a recession, soaring fuel costs, huge budget deficits, and the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a looming confrontation with Iran. Add to that the fear accummulated over the last decades that Americans, by definition, are in militant gunsights in many places around the world.
The situation was different when Bush took over the White House in January 2001. The US economy was booming with a budget surplus. Its military was not engaged in any active combat. And the president had a popularity rating of more than 60 per cent.
Today the same president's popularity rating is less than 35. The economy is troubled waters, the military is fighting on several fronts and the American people have more things to worry about than they did when Bush took over as president.
Bush offered nothing new in his State of the Union address. He simply defended his policies and spoke aggressive about the wars and confrontation that the US is facing. And, judging from the immediate American public reaction, few were impressed.
That Bush has left his own party in deep trouble is also evident.
The Bush name is seldom mentioned by Republican candidates in the ongoing presidential campaigning and they refer to Ronald
Reagan as the last Republican president. Ironically, walked over in the campaigning are the terms of both Bush and his father who suceeded Reagan.
Indeed, it would have been naive to have expected Bush to announce any dramatic shift in domestic or foreign policy in the twilight year of his presidency. But some did, and they were promptly disappointed.