State of the Union

After listening to President Bush’s State of the Union address, I feel confident in the future of the United States. The President highlighted his legislative achievements and his plan for the future and made Americans proud.

Now some naysayers are taking a simplistic approach and saying that the President has made things worse. These critics claim that the six years since Mr. Bush took office on January 20, 2001 have shown no progress or a marked decline on all fronts.

(The Dow Jones Industrial average was at 10,700.)

That’s just plain dumb, simplistic thinking.

(The unemployment rate was 4%.)

I know that opposition politicians like to play the game of "Are you better off now than you were two, four or six years ago?"

(The World Trade Center towers were standing.)

But that’s not right. It’s not fair to compare apples and oranges.

(There was no axis of evil.)

President Bush inherited a whole litany of problems from the Clinton administration.

(Politicians were wondering how to spend a projected one trillion dollar surplus.)

He had to take tough measures to ensure that this nation remained on the right track. Economic prosperity often requires difficult decisions.

(There was an estate tax and a tax on dividends.)

After years of wishy washy foreign policy by the Clinton administration, it was time to take a firm stance.

(North Korea was complying with its treaty obligations.)

The world was looking for a strong American voice, a voice that would speak the words of liberty and justice people were longing to hear.

(Saddam Hussein wasn’t bothering anyone.)

Bill Clinton had waffled on so many fronts that the world was a tinderbox in danger of explosion.

(Israel and the Palestinians had come very close to an historic peace agreement.)

The Democrats had pursued their misguided, liberal policies domestically as well to the detriment of the nation.

(Affirmative action was an effective social engineering tool.)

So, I say to those small minded critics: Stop worrying about the last six years and start looking ahead to the next two. Wake up before it’s too late.