George, you ignorant ignoramus!

BY NATHAN LITTLEFIELD

Listening to President George W. Bush, DC '68, is often a painful experience. For a man who graduated from Andover, Yale, and eventually Harvard Business School, he is stunningly inarticulate. It seems that during one of his many trips between Texas and these bastions of American education, grammar and syntax got left at an airport baggage check.

So I was pleasantly surprised that his inaugural speech was unmarred by such linguistic effluvium as, "Until I'm president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I'll think I'll be more effective." Bush's address was concise and evenly delivered. With help from speechwriter Michael Gerson, he sounded like a man qualified to lead 275 million people. But presentation isn't everything. Beneath his newfound polish, it was Bush as usual.

Somehow, he had the audacity to thank Al Gore for "a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace." Sure, he's expected to tip his hat to his opponent. However, he should not assume that the American public has suddenly developed amnesia. To hear him a month and a half ago, Gore was an enemy of democracy. At that time, then-President-elect Bush cited his recourse to the court system as an example of the judicial activism so despised by conservatives. Putting the Florida debacle behind him now is one thing, but acting as though it never happened is another.

It gets worse. When the president got to matters of actual policy, the bull flowed faster than Christian Coalition cash into his campaign coffers. He vowed to "reduce taxes to recover the momentum of our economy." Bush would do well to remember the example of his party's idol, Ronald Reagan. In 1981, the Great Communicator also pushed through a massive tax cut. This was followed by widespread unemployment, rampant inflation, and stagnation so acute that some analysts wondered whether a second Great Depression was at hand.

He followed that statement with a promise to "build our defenses beyond challenge." Hello? America's military budget is three times the size of China's and Russia's combined. It's true that the armed forces possess several aging weapons systems, but throwing around money won't help matters. The V-22 Osprey, a helicopter-airplane hybrid costing $80 million per aircraft, has remained in development despite the fact that the Air Force has tried to cancel the project three times—after three of the 15 prototypes crashed. It's still in development because of Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), in whose district the aircraft is built. The military doesn't need more money. It needs people like Weldon to treat it as a fighting force, not a jobs program.

As for Bush's desire to "confront weapons of mass destruction," i.e. to build a missile-defense system, little needs to be said. Treaty obligations and consideration for our allies simply prohibit us from doing so. A country that claims, as Bush put it, to "lead the cause of freedom" does not break treaties and trample upon the wishes of its own allies to pursue an expensive, scientifically dubious project.

Finally, Bush stated that, "Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and common schools." To him, "public safety" means more prisons and death rows. John Ashcroft, BR '64, the evangelical Christian whom Bush has tapped for Attorney General, should be great for civil rights, provided that they don't include access to abortion, protecting minorities from an unfair judicial establishment, or ensuring that homosexuals have the same rights as other citizens. And Bush and Co. want to gut America's "common schools" by siphoning money from them to pay for voucher programs.

Reading between the lines shows just how much duplicity lurks beneath Bush's sudden refinement. I almost liked the president better when I couldn't understand a word he said. Bush closed his address affirming that "an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm." We'd better hope for divine intervention. Nathan Littlefield is a sophomore in Ezra Stiles and is a managing editor of the Herald.

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