The State of the Union is Scary

President Bush addressed the nation Tuesday night, hoping to
calm economic markets and the frazzled nerves of a citizenry torn
over the threat of terrorism at home and impending war abroad. He
failed on both fronts.

As William Rivers Pitt notes in truthout.com, the
address was more noteworthy for what Bush didn?t say than
for what he did. The president did his best to talk up Homeland
Security without mentioning the Total(itarian) Information
Awareness database, he boasted of efforts to curb corporate crime
without alluding to his friends at Enron who helped write the Cheny
energy plan, and he promoted his next big tax cut without noting
that his first one had sparked a massive increase in
unemployment.

Bush delivered his laundy list of big-ticket proposals,
including a missile defense shield, drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, and more noble efforts like new drug treatment
programs and funding to help stem Africa?s AIDS crisis, with nary a
mention of the massive deficits his administration had already
generated. ?At one point during the reading of this fiduciary
laundry list, Bush demanded fiscal responsibility from the
government,? Pitt writes. ?A roving camera caught House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi bursting into laughter when that line came
across.?

In his attempt to make a case for war with Iraq, Bush accused
Saddam Hussein of supporting terrorism without providing any
evidence of a link with al Quaeda. Indeed, writes Pitt, the
scenario the president painted bordered on the ludicrous. ?He
failed to mention that Hussein is a secular dictator who has spent
the last 30 years crushing Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq, failed
to mention the death threats levied against him by al Qaeda, and
failed to mention the absolute fact that Hussein would never be so
stupid as to give weapons or aid to blood enemies. Were he to do
so, he would find those weapons immediately turned against
him.?

The president also did not acknowledge the increasing number of
military officials?including General Norman Schwartzkopf?who have
counseled him to allow the U.N. inspections to run their course,
Pitt notes. And, of course, he conveniently forgot to mention the
name of the man who we all thought this war on terror was all
about: Osama bin Laden.