Friday, January 31, 2003
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Bush
speech turns surprising Hamid
Karzai, Rudy Giuliani and Sharon Spann could not be found in the
gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives. There were no strategically-placed
heroes in the wings of Congress, Tuesday evening. The focus was
squarely and solidly placed upon the president. On
a day that saw the re-election of Ariel Sharon as prime minister
of Israel, the largest battle in Afghanistan since March and the
continuing saga taking place at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, the beginning of President Bush’s State of the
Union was strangely out-of-place. Drug addiction, mentoring programs,
human cloning and partial birth abortion. You could almost see William
Kristol and the rest of the neocons yawning and turning off their
TV sets, as Bush slogged through his domestic agenda. The assaults
on trial lawyers and the bitter memories of ClintonCare were a tedious
prelude to next year’s presidential election. But just a shade
before 9:35 p.m., the speech underwent a tectonic shift. The
turning point was Bush’s introduction of a $1.2 billion initiative
to promote the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Although
Bush’s similarities to former President Bill Clinton appear
nonexistent (and neither man would be comfortable acknowledging
any shared qualities), this proposal exemplified classic Clintonism.
Bush triangulated the Democrats, arguing to the American public
that he supports dramatic plans to increase energy efficiency and
wean the United States off its reliance on foreign petroleum. And
while the $1.2 billion is far from the “Manhattan Project”
for new fuel technologies envisioned by The New York Times columnist
Thomas Friedman and then-House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt
(D-Mo.), Bush now has the high ground with the electorate. Bush
established an unambiguous outline of the coming days’ developments
in the Iraq crisis. Secretary of State Colin Powell will address
the U.N. Security Council Feb. 5, where many are expecting a replay
of Adlai Stevenson’s performance at the U.N. at the height
of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Will the Bush administration finally
come forward with its incontrovertible evidence that Sadaam Hussein
is engaged in the production of nuclear, chemical or biological
weapons? The
endgame, for better and for worse, is now set and there will be
little room for any party, the United States, the European Union,
the Security Council or Iraq to maneuver from the brink. Last
year’s speech, hailed as a rhetorically gripping performance,
now appears almost quaint. The world has undergone excessive change
since the halcyon climate of one year ago. The president faces a
rapidly changing world where Le Monde’s memorable headline
after Sept. 11 “We Are All Americans Now” has been replaced
with a slippery geopolitical scene. From backroom deals for control
of the new Europe between Germany and France to a Security Council
less amenable to the Bush administration’s wishes, the obstacles
lying ahead for the president are vast. Leaving us with one question:
Can the hegemon ever be loved? Zac Pescowitz is a columnist for Michigan Daily at the University of Michigan. This column was distributed by U-Wire. |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2003 |
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