In a post, a few minutes ago, at the New York Times a preview of el Presidente's discurso:
President Bush plans to tell Americans tonight that they must not retreat from challenges at home and abroad, that they make the economy of the United States the best in the world, but that they must break a national "addiction" to oil.
"In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and invited, yet it ends in danger and decline," Mr. Bush says in his State of the Union address, according to excerpts issued in advance by the White House.
Right. Next?
The president calls again for the United States to stay on the offensive in fighting terrorism, and to do so not just by military means but by "encouraging economic progress, fighting disease and spreading hope in hopeless lands."
That's Bush, not Bill Clinton, by the way.
The president, who is known to have gone through dozens of drafts of the speech with its writers, dwells on one of his favorite themes, what he has called the character and compassion of the American people. "Our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are and how we treat one another," he says. "So we strive to be a compassionate, decent, hopeful society."
Okay, Mr. P. Y'all do it first. Y'all start the new Bush era by being compassionate, decent, and hopeful. Hear what I'm sayin'? Be a leader. Tell the truth, for god's sake. Be genuinely compassionate, decent, and hopeful, not the mean, lyin', cynical bastard you've been for five years. That's what leadership means! You do it first.
