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January 24, 2007
Bush's 2007 State of the Union address, annotated by The Atlantic's James Fallows Post Mortem: State of the UnionHere are the big points about this speech, then some line by line comments. This will be the commentary equivalent of organic farming, in that my reactions are 100% unsullied by first-wave reaction in the United States. Here in Shenzhen, southern China, where I recently arrived, internet service is still so severely disrupted by the earthquake in Taiwan last month that web pages take several minutes to load. This report will—I hope—go by email to the Atlantic’s web HQ in Washington. About the speech:
This transcript is the final “as delivered” version from the White House. “Applause” is noted many times, but not all applause breaks were the same. A few were enthusiastic and bipartisan; some were enthusiastic and strictly partisan; and a large number were perfunctory. For Immediate Release January 23, 2007 United States Capitol THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own—as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker. (Applause.) In his day, the late Congressman Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr. from Baltimore, Maryland, saw Presidents Roosevelt and Truman at this rostrum. But nothing could compare with the sight of his only daughter, Nancy, presiding tonight as Speaker of the House of Representatives. (Applause.) Congratulations, Madam Speaker. (Applause.) Two members of the House and Senate are not with us tonight, and we pray for the recovery and speedy return of Senator Tim Johnson and Congressman Charlie Norwood. (Applause.) Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: The rite of custom brings us together at a defining hour—when decisions are hard and courage is needed. We enter the year 2007 with large endeavors underway, and others that are ours to begin. In all of this, much is asked of us. We must have the will to face difficult challenges and determined enemies—and the wisdom to face them together. [Yeah yeah yeah. This is how speechwriters sound when they are tired, or politicians when they don’t actually have anything to say.] Some in this chamber are new to the House and the Senate—and I congratulate the Democrat majority. (Applause.) [Applause was a little one-sided, and Bush rushed right through it any way. And please, please, can we drop this childish insistence on calling the opposition the ‘Democrat’ party? That is a minor score-settling tactic advocated by Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay, and it’s unworthy of a presidential speech. ] Congress has changed, but not our responsibilities. Each of us is guided by our own convictions—and to these we must stay faithful. Yet we're all held to the same standards, and called to serve the same good purposes: To extend this nation's prosperity; to spend the people's money wisely; to solve problems, not leave them to future generations; to guard America against all evil; and to keep faith with those we have sent forth to defend us. (Applause.) [In news-magazine land, this would be called the nut graf: the summary of what the article, or speech, will be about. Every year White House insiders say that the State of the Union speech will be “thematic” and not a “laundry list.” Well, these are the themes.] We're not the first to come here with a government divided and uncertainty in the air. Like many before us, we can work through our differences, and achieve big things for the American people. Our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on—as long as we're willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done. (Applause.) [At this point Nancy Pelosi first employs a trick that serves her well through the night. Bush has done a skillful job in most of the speech of starting a sentence or paragraph with something the Democrats don’t believe in, but then ending the passage with something they have to stand up and applaud, like “we will always support the troops!” In these cases Pelosi clearly thought she might as well recognize the situation and get on her feet cheering before Dick Cheney can. The two people are roughly the same age, but Pelosi has had four or five fewer heart attacks than Cheney, and throughout the night, starting here, she beats him in the stand-and-applause contest every time.] Our job is to make life better for our fellow Americans, and to help them to build a future of hope and opportunity—and this is the business before us tonight. A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy—and that is what we have. We're now in the 41st month of uninterrupted job growth, in a recovery that has created 7.2 million new jobs—so far. Unemployment is low, inflation is low, and wages are rising. This economy is on the move, and our job is to keep it that way, not with more government, but with more enterprise. (Applause.) [This is an early illustration of the “I dare ‘em not to cheer” ploy. Democrats completely disagree with the first part of this paragraph—that will become one of Webb’s main themes—and they probably think government has a different, better role in fixing problems than Bush thinks. But most of them have to clap for the last line.] Next week, I'll deliver a full report on the state of our economy. Tonight, I want to discuss three economic reforms that deserve to be priorities for this Congress. First, we must balance the federal budget. (Applause.) [Pelosi up like a shot! This may have been too risky a line for Bush, since the Democrats are obviously cheering in sarcastic glee, given the spending record of the Republican Congress and Bush’s failure to ever veto a single spending plan. On the other hand, members of the President’s base may need to hear this.] We can do so without raising taxes. (Applause.) What we need is to impose spending discipline in Washington, D.C. We set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009, and met that goal three years ahead of schedule. (Applause.) Now let us take the next step. In the coming weeks, I will submit a budget that eliminates the federal deficit within the next five years. (Applause.) I ask you to make the same commitment. Together, we can restrain the spending appetite of the federal government, and we can balance the federal budget. (Applause.) [It is striking how perfunctory the applause here is. It is as if all the legislators, regardless of party, know how this is actually going to turn out.] Next, there is the matter of earmarks. These special interest items are often slipped into bills at the last hour—when not even C-SPAN is watching. (Laughter.) [Oh, I miss Washington humor!] In 2005 alone, the number of earmarks grew to over 13,000 and totaled nearly $18 billion. Even worse, over 90 percent of earmarks never make it to the floor of the House and Senate—they are dropped into committee reports that are not even part of the bill that arrives on my desk. You didn't vote them into law. I didn't sign them into law. Yet, they're treated as if they have the force of law. [A sneaking little thought: is it really such a good idea to be talking about proposals that don’t go through the time-honored legislative process and yet somehow take on the ‘force of law.’ Could this possibly start some people thinking: wait a minute! That’s what the President has been doing with his “signing statements,” and his executive orders, and his other decrees! This is a nice line about earmarks that should have been cut, since it hurts Bush’s larger case and cause.] The time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform the budget process, expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress, and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session. (Applause.) [Nervous applause. No one can believe that the President would actually push this point, with so much else to worry about. On the other hand, many of the new members had campaigned against incumbents for earmark excesses among other sins.] And, finally, to keep this economy strong we must take on the challenge of entitlements. Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are commitments of conscience [What???? Did anybody in the speechwriting office look at the State of the Union address from two years ago, about how Social Security as we knew it had outlived its time? On the other hand, who cares: The President’s supporters and detractors alike are much more worried about other issues.], and so it is our duty to keep them permanently sound. Yet, we're failing in that duty. And this failure will one day leave our children with three bad options: huge tax increases, huge deficits, or huge and immediate cuts in benefits. Everyone in this chamber knows this to be true—yet somehow we have not found it in ourselves to act. So let us work together and do it now. With enough good sense and goodwill, you and I can fix Medicare and Medicaid—and save Social Security. (Applause.) [All through this section, the President appears just to be reading the speech, to get through it, without noticing or “selling” what it says.] Spreading opportunity and hope in America also requires public schools that give children the knowledge and character they need in life. Five years ago, we rose above partisan differences to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, preserving local control, raising standards, and holding those schools accountable for results. And because we acted, students are performing better in reading and math, and minority students are closing the achievement gap. Now the task is to build on the success, without watering down standards, without taking control from local communities, and without backsliding and calling it reform. We can lift student achievement even higher by giving local leaders flexibility to turn around failing schools, and by giving families with children stuck in failing schools the right to choose someplace better. (Applause.) We must increase funds for students who struggle—and make sure these children get the special help they need. (Applause.) And we can make sure our children are prepared for the jobs of the future and our country is more competitive by strengthening math and science skills. The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children—and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law. (Applause.) [Polite applause, not strictly on partisan lines.] A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens have affordable and available health care. (Applause.) [All Democrats instantly on their feet, cheering lustily and somewhat sarcastically. Republicans a little more uneasy-seeming.] When it comes to health care, government has an obligation to care for the elderly, the disabled, and poor children. And we will meet those responsibilities. For all other Americans, private health insurance is the best way to meet their needs. (Applause.) But many Americans cannot afford a health insurance policy. And so tonight, I propose two new initiatives to help more Americans afford their own insurance. First, I propose a standard tax deduction for health insurance that will be like the standard tax deduction for dependents. Families with health insurance will pay no income on payroll tax—or payroll taxes on $15,000 of their income. Single Americans with health insurance will pay no income or payroll taxes on $7,500 of their income. With this reform, more than 100 million men, women, and children who are now covered by employer-provided insurance will benefit from lower tax bills. At the same time, this reform will level the playing field for those who do not get health insurance through their job. For Americans who now purchase health insurance on their own, this proposal would mean a substantial tax savings—$4,500 for a family of four making $60,000 a year. And for the millions of other Americans who have no health insurance at all, this deduction would help put a basic private health insurance plan within their reach. Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making health care affordable for more Americans. (Applause.) [This counts as one of the main domestic initiatives in the speech, and—according to my notes—not even the Republicans stood to cheer.] My second proposal is to help the states that are coming up with innovative ways to cover the uninsured. States that make basic private health insurance available to all their citizens should receive federal funds to help them provide this coverage to the poor and the sick. I have asked the Secretary of Health and Human Services to work with Congress to take existing federal funds and use them to create "Affordable Choices" grants. These grants would give our nation's governors more money and more flexibility to get private health insurance to those most in need. There are many other ways that Congress can help. We need to expand Health Savings Accounts. (Applause.) [I think this is the first time that Dick Cheney stands to cheer and Pelosi sits and stares.] We need to help small businesses through Association Health Plans. (Applause.) We need to reduce costs and medical errors with better information technology. (Applause.) We will encourage price transparency. And to protect good doctors from junk lawsuits, we are passing medical liability reform. (Applause.) [To judge by the applause-and-yelling meter, this is both the most cleanly-divided partisan issue among the domestic proposals, with all the Republicans standing and cheering and none of the Democrats (that I can see); and it is also the issue the Republicans care about most. They cheer very loudly for this one.] In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors. (Applause.) [Let’s see if the Democrats dare not applaud!] Extending hope and opportunity in our country requires an immigration system worthy of America—with laws that are fair and borders that are secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, this harms the interests of our country. To secure our border, we're doubling the size of the Border Patrol, and funding new infrastructure and technology. Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border—and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won't have to try to sneak in, and that will leave Border Agents free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists. [It’s strange: with the last two words, “and terrorists,” you can almost hear Bush talking differently. He seems to be thinking: OK, now we’re getting to the important stuff, this is what I know about.] (Applause.) We'll enforce our immigration laws at the work site and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers, so there's no excuse left for violating the law. (Applause.) We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. (Applause.) We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty. (Applause.) Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil, and conclusive debate, so that you can pass, and I can sign, comprehensive immigration reform into law. (Applause.) [Everybody cheers the goal, even as they know that fundamentally different ideas of what “reform” should mean are nowhere near being resolved.] state of the union, bush, iraq, 2007, james fallows, analysis, postmortem, atlantic monthly, annotated
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Like the President’s last big televised address, his defense of the “New Way Forward” in Iraq less than two weeks ago, this speech will not change a single mind among those (a majority of Americans, according to polls) who thought before the speech that George W. Bush was doing a bad job as president and that his approach to Iraq was wrong.
