State of the Union 2008: President Bush's Final Year

Transcript

TOM MANN:   I believe the beginning of the speech speaks volumes about the ideological differences that now exist between the parties, which simply can’t be settled by splitting the difference. The President began by saying let us show them, that is the people, that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time, which was immediately followed by we must be guided by the philosophy that has made our nation great, and this is a philosophy that says we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history, and so, in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free peoples to make wise decisions and empower them to improve their lives for their futures. It is a public philosophy, an ideology that certain has guided the President in his administration, but it is not a consensual public philosophy in this country and one disputed very substantially by most Democrats and certainly by the guiding public philosophy of the Clinton Administration that served for eight years before the George W. Bush Administration.

What I take away from that is that beyond the stimulus package, little of great moment or import will be done in this second session of Congress, and the electorate is going to have to weigh in to adjudicate this dispute one way or another, to either continue to sort of divide the ends of Pennsylvania Avenue or, in some way, to provide the means for one political party to go forward in a way that provides some more substantial attention to the very items that President Bush has failed to get the Congress to move on.

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