Friday, September 16, 2005

REVIEW OF BUSH'S SPEECH LAST TONIGHT

Here a few reviews of Bush's speech last night...

Hugh Hewitt:

Perfect pitch returned tonight, and the president's looks backward and forward were on target. As Chris Matthews observed, it sounded a little LBJ/FDR-like in its vows about the underclass of the recovery region, but that is exactly why it worked so well: That is what needs to happen, and he identified the best approaches in the empowerment of entrepeneurs and the retraining of the evacuees. The enterprise zone could prove a turbo charged motor to the effort, and the promise of innovation was well delivered. (full post)

Matt Welch:

A good speech, I thought, and I say that through clenched teeth. I certainly would have liked it a whole lot better if he would have said something like, "You know that Transporktation Bill, and everything like it? I'm going to time-travel back and veto (v-e-t-o, I think) that sumbitch, so that we spend tax money on stuff that actually matters, and maybe not spend so much tax money, period. Also, that whole biggest-new-bureaucracy-in-three-decades thing, maybe that wasn't such a good idea." Short of that, we're reduced to finding comfort in a president demonstrating that he cares, and that he actually claims to take responsibility for a mistake. (full post)

Lorie Byrd:

Other than that, I thought the speech was one of Bush’s best. I even applaud his choice of clothing. Pitch perfect. I am not completely on board with all the spending or the increased role of the federal government and military in disaster response, but other than that, I loved the speech.

UPDATE II: A few more thoughts on the speech… I loved the religious references because they were beautiful and appropriate considering the wonderful work that has been done by faith-based organizations, but also because I could imagine all those on the Left seething with anger that the President would mix church and state. I was also very encouraged by the free market solutions the President recommended, as Black Con pointed to above, such as private home ownership incentives, tax breaks for businesses, etc.
(full post)

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