State of the Union, and beyond

Inter Lake editorial

President Bush fulfilled a constitutional mandate Tuesday night by giving Congress his report on the state of the Union, but unfortunately a speech that reveals one man's hopes and vision for his country cannot do more than whet our appetite for leadership.

The president's "State of the Union" address was no better or worse than many such speeches. It certainly contained many wise phrases and exhorted our people and our nation to greatness, but the fact of the matter is that words and wisdom that might once have turned a nation to action are now more likely to be greeted with yawns and snickers.

Our ability as a nation to be focused by a leader, even one more inspired than President Bush, is limited at best. To put it mildly, we are jaded. Although Republicans might cheer the president, they are more likely to be guided by political expediency than vision when they are asked to vote on the policies and programs the president set forth Tuesday. And the Democratic opposition had already dismissed much of the president's agenda before the speech was even delivered.

Yet there was much to applaud in the president's words. He rightly said that the nation faces difficult challenges and determined enemies, and encouraged us to have the "wisdom to face them together." He extended his hand to the Democratic opposition - not just to the new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, but also to those who have opposed him on the war in Iraq and other issues.

No one could possibly agree with the president's entire agenda, but there should be areas of agreement - balancing the federal budget, solving the problems of Social Security and Medicare, securing the border - where something can actually get accomplished.

We hope so, because are many other areas where division and dissent are likely to prevent any progress, even on matters of great national concern such as the illegal immigration problem, energy independence, and national security.

The president rightly reminded the congressmen and Cabinet officers who joined him in the audience, "there is no higher responsibility than to protect the people of this country from danger."

Yet we all know that the fundamental danger of our times - terrorism - has divided our country more than it has brought us together, and we wonder how many people in the country can even agree with the president that "This war is more than a clash of arms - it is a decisive ideological struggle, and the security of the nation is in balance."

Certainly, as you listened to the pundits and presidential candidates parsing the speech in the moments after it was finished, you had no sense of danger, no recognition of a greater threat that we must face together. Instead, it was just more politics as usual.

So it is interesting to note that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was also addressing the world on Tuesday, and we would hope that if the U.S. president's words are ignored by Congress that the Iranian president's words will be heeded.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting website, Ahmadinejad, in a meeting with the Syrian foreign minister, "assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives."

It is easy to dismiss the words of our own president because of our national cynicism, but it would be foolish to so easily overlook the threats of a world leader who has vowed to destroy us.