Council for Democracy hosted “Pitchers and Politics: The State of the Union Address” Wednesday night in the UC. Edward Martos, President of the Council, led the event.
“This is part of our Pitchers and Politics series, but tonight it’s Pizza and Politics,” Martos said. “We started the Pitchers and Politics series last semester when we hosted three debate watch parties.”
During his speech, President George W. Bush said university costs are expected to decrease due to more Pell grants.
Bush also discussed the need to grant permission to temporary guest workers and he spent more than 10 minutes discussing Social Security reform.
“For younger workers, there are serious problems that will grow with time,” Bush said. “We must reform Social Security through voluntary personal retirement accounts, with money going into stocks and bonds.”
He mentioned new programs for youth.
“I want to keep young men out of jail and gangs, have them reject violence and respect women,” Bush said to applause.
He also spoke about government improvements with regard to defense, mentioning the success of last week’s vote in Iraq but saying that no timetable would be set for peace.
Bush said that he would ask Congress for $350 million for achieving peaceful Palestinian and Israeli states.
Dr. Moore, political science professor, made comments after the speech.
He said the guest worker program has proved to be a problem for Europe and may also be the case for the U.S.
Dr. Moore also mentioned that although the speech was short as a whole, the president spent almost half of it discussing foreign policy.
“The elections were a landmark event in Iraq. In regards to the Middle East, $350 million is a huge amount to be spending on Palestine,” he said.
Dr. Moore added that Bush was describing a “flypaper theory” regarding Iraq: There are a fixed number of terrorists, most of whom are attracted to Iraq, instead of America.
“The goal he mentioned for Iraq-a completely democratic and peaceful with its neighbors government-means that we will not be out of Iraq in your lifetime,” said Dr. Moore.
Reeva Oza can be contacted at r.oza@umiami.edu.