Bush makes valid points, sense in State of the Union

A room full of old and decrepit white men in suits standing and clapping every 30 seconds can only mean one thing. Yes, Tuesday marked one of the most important State of the Union addresses in recent history. The economy is crashing, the environment is sputtering towards collapse, the middle east is crawling with terrorists, and war with Iraq seems imminent. So the question on everyone’s mind was how in the world is Bush going to make all of that seem like a good thing?
Well, Tuesday night I actually found myself clapping for President Bush. For a brief moment, he made me believe that he was more than a buffoon in the pocket of the oil companies. First, although it is no secret that Bush cares as much for the environment as he does for an inmate on death row in Texas, he proposed over a billion dollars to fund the creation of a car that runs on hydrogen and creates water as a waste product. This would drastically cut pollution and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Hallelujah! The only downside is that the project will take almost 20 years to implement, and by that time we might all be living on the moon.
Then, going against the trend in America and the world, Bush actually had the backbone to say that we must help AIDS victims in Africa. Kudos, President Bush, for taking that bold step and making Africa’s problem our problem! Of course, the cynic would say that he had no other choice. In light of the recent Trent Lott scandal, he had to show that his party really doesn’t hate black people. But still, I think Bush deserves a great deal of credit (did I just say that?).
Finally, Bush talked a good deal about the impending war with Iraq. He gave copious amounts of evidence against Hussein and made it seem like war is indeed necessary. However, I still have a few problems.
First of all, a good deal of the evidence against Hussein was from the 80s and turns out to be less damning than it seems. For instance, remember those metal pipes that Hussein bought and didn’t account for? Well, apparently they were only powerful enough to make rockets, not weapons of mass destruction. So although Bush wasn’t lying, he was bending the truth.
What’s more, I still think that this war is too personal. Without it his presidency has been a failure, so I have a hard time believing that the American people aren’t being lied to just a little bit. It wouldn’t be the first time a president has lied to get America into war.
Travis Atria is a senior majoring in English Literature. His hate mail can be directed to batman7777@aol.com.