‘Free People Will Set the Course of History’
Vol: 16 Issue: 29 Wednesday, January 29, 2003
When President Bush began his 17 minute explanation of why America could not ignore Saddam Hussein in his State of the Union speech, a pin dropping in the well of the Senate would have sounded like a gunshot. “The course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others” he said, reminding the UN and the rest of America that the US has NOT surrendered its sovereignty, even if Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy believe it has.
“The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm,” he said. “America will not accept a serious and mounting threat to our country, our friends and our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February 5th to consider the facts of Iraq’s ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State (Colin) Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraq’s illegal weapons programs; its attempts to hide those weapons from inspectors; and its links to terrorist groups. We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.”
The president’s approval numbers, which were hovering in the high 50’s during the speech, rocketed to 81% by the time he had finished laying out the game plan for the next 12 months to the people of America. The President was interrupted 77 times by applause.
Assessment:
I noted two things that were remarkable about this year’s State of the Union speech. The first was the half-hour Susan Sarandon bought (financed by Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream) just before the president’s speech to slam him before anybody even knew what he was going to say.
The second was the human sacrifice sent out by the Democrats to fall on his sword for the party afterwards.
Picking Governor Gary Locke of Washington state to deliver the party’s response to President Bush’s State of the Union address said much more than the lame effort at rebuttal. It said that nobody in the House or Senate had the courage to do it themselves. Except Ted Kennedy, who was clearly hoping everybody had turned off the TV after the President was done speaking.
Neither Locke’s rebuttal nor the Daschle-Pelosi “prebuttal” sounded like the sort of rip-roaring alternative that might energize opponents of the administration policies in Washington or beyond.
Musing Right Along . . .
This is a really short OL on a morning when it should be a long one. Forgive me. We’re on the road again, headed home. Gayle has everything packed and lined up near the front door to our hotel room.
Time for one lingering look at the Atlantic waves crashing on the beach. . . and we’re off.
Please pray for journey mercies for us as we start the long trek home. We’ll keep you posted.
Omegaletter 