Bush\'s State of the Union Address

¶ … unseen terrorism and at the brink of a possible war with Iraq many Americans sat with baited breath waiting for the State of the Union Address from President Bush on January 28 of 2003. President Bush addressed several issues that were at least personally surprising to hear. The three domestic proposals that I found intriguing were the compassionate address of drug addiction treatment programs, hydrogen car research initiative and the health care reform proposals followed by the urging of the congress to accept legislation that would outlaw human cloning. The three foreign proposals that struck interest in me include the African Caribbean AIDS allocations, the clear and spoken association between the two rival factions of Al'Qeada and Saddam Hussein and continued diplomatic attempts to disarm North Korea.

The historical focus of the war on illegal drugs has been for some time just that a war on drugs. Bush raised eyebrows and possibly impressed many people with his indication of concern and knowledge about the devastating outcomes of use and dependence on illegal drugs by addicts. Focusing on legislation that will allocate several hundred million dollars toward the problem associated with the personal fallout of drug addiction is a very surprising policy change in a time when the media blitz and popular talk have been much more about the financial boon that terrorism gleans from the illegal drug trade. It will be interesting to see if the historical popular beliefs can be refocused

Alternative fuel automobiles have been in the scientific minds eye for nearly 50 years and yet the financial focus of industry and government on not alternative fuels but fossil fuel run cars and trucks has been almost universal. The funding for research associated with hydrogen fuel run cars and even economically sound and practical fully electric cars has been derailed on more than one occasion by a simple lack of funds for research. If tomorrow's driving generation can refocus their ideas of what a car is and if funding holds out it will be impressive.

It was also surprising to hear the Bush outline for the reformation of medical systems to ensure continued and improved access to superior United States medical technology and systems the surprise is not in the focus on medical reform or the rejection of socialized medical proposals but in the contrast between rallying behind the existing and possibly improved medical technologies and the Bush rally of congress to completely outlaw the use of human cloning regardless of its medical validity and/or purpose.

Another surprise is Bush's proposal to allocate 15 billion dollars over the next five years to help eradicate AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. It is interesting to hear this as the biggest funding issue associated with the treatment and prevention of AIDS in Africa and many other countries is the exorbitant cost of patented treatment drugs offered by the technologically advanced United States Medical System.

Bush clearly drew a line in the sand connecting the terrorist organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks and the regime of Iraq. Even without the clear indication that these connections exist Bush tied the two together to increase the popularity of the movement toward war against Iraq. Though this venue does not offer much opportunity for serious focus on any one issue this does seem like a premature assumption, not yet fact fortified.

The final surprise associated with the State of the Union Address is the continued focus on the diplomatic attempts to disarm North Korea, regardless of political opinion that clearly assess a greater threat from North Korea than from Iraq. Bush regards the world and the United States as unblackmailable yet the reality is that the threat does seem to have made a real impact on the results of the world reaction.