The Poet's Eye
     commentary by Lightning Rod

The Poet's Eye is skeptical without being cynical,
innocent without being naive and critical without
being judgemental.

State of the Onion
for release 02-04-05

"Some say my tax plan is too big. Others say it’s too small. I respectfully disagree. [Laughter] This plan is just right." G. Bush, State of the Union speech, 2001.

Four years ago when George Bush gave his first State of the Union speech, I almost wept for the man because he was so inept and sophomoric. Do you remember his grand literary allusion to The Three Bears? We've come a long way in the post 9/11 world. Bush was poised and confident in his delivery to Congress on Wednesday night. Butter wouldn't have melted in his mouth as he told lie after lie after lie.

The President expected us to believe that democracy has been born in Iraq under the barrel of an American gun. He told us that there were free and fair elections when on that same day there were 175 terror attacks in the country. He lauded a domestic economy that has enjoyed more bankruptcies than any in history. And he didn't mention that these bankruptcies were in great proportion caused by unbearable medical bills. One quarter of full-time workers have no health care coverage.

He didn't mention that the dollar has fallen 40% against the European currency in the past two years. He glossed over the fact that America's reputation in the world has gone from the beacon of peace and freedom and opportunity to that of an imperial bully.

Yes, George Bush has improved greatly as a speaker in the past four years. You can almost believe him when he tells you that the way to save Social Security is to rob money from it, money which will be deposited into the pockets of his Wall Street buddies.

The speech was fabulously Orwellian. Not since Joseph Goebbels has anyone mastered Newspeak better than Rove & Co. Robbing medical malfeasance victims of their right to the courts becomes 'medical liability reform.' Blocking lawsuits from victims of asbestos poisoning turns into a measure to 'promote small business.' And it's only 'environmental responsibility' to drill for oil in Alaska.

Oh yes, the State of the Onion is just peachy, until you start peeling through the layers. I don't know what world George Bush lives in, but it's not the same one that The Poet's Eye sees. In George Bush's world, we've conquered AIDS, our ports are secure, in fact the whole world is more secure now that we are exporting 'freedom and democracy.' In George Bush's world marriage is only between a man and a woman, no child is left behind and Iraq is 'free and sovereign.' Where is he living? Fantasyland.

Thankfully, the President didn't plumb the literary depths of Little Red Riding Hood in this speech. Do you remember his first State of the Union speech when he did the Goldilocks 'not too big, not too small, just right' routine? But he is still telling fairy tales. By some fiscal magic he is going to balance the budget while fighting foreign wars at a cost of thirty million dollars a day, and he's going to fix Social Security by robbing it of two trillion dollars over the next ten years. The Big Bad Wolf, bin Laden, wasn't even mentioned in the speech.

With a straight face, our President told us that, "Justice is distorted, and our economy is held back by irresponsible class-actions and frivolous asbestos claims." Translation in Realspeak: "We are going to inhibit your access to the courts and if industry poisons you with it's foul products or by-products, tough luck." I noticed that there were no asbestos cancer victims sitting in the First Lady's section with their respirators. Where do these people fit into the President's 'culture of life?' Oh, excuse me, I forgot my Newspeak for a moment. 'Culture of life' is a code phrase for no right to abortion and no stem cell research.

Now here is another little passage straight from Mother Goose:

"We're working closely with the governments in Asia to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and nine other countries have captured or detained al Qaeda terrorists. In the next four years, my administration will continue to build the coalitions that will defeat the dangers of our time."

Get this guy a ticket to Disney World. He's living in Fantasyland. And the scary part about it is that the Congress seems to be acting like elves and dwarves--one happy chorus of munchkin yes-men. The Democratic response to the President's State of the Union speech was the weakest broth I have ever tasted. The chicken barely stepped into the pot.

The Poet's Eye sees the handwriting on the wall, and it's not in a language that I understand. It's in a strange new language concocted in the basement of the White House and designed to make you think that black is white and that war is peace and that hate is love. If you wish to prosper, learn to speak it.

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'" --George Orwell, 1984

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