Faculty Reactions to President Bush's
State of the Union Address

Several MHC faculty members had a variety of reactions to President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday night:

John O. Fox, visiting lecturer of complex organizations:
It has been said that you don't have long to make a first impression. President Bush has had more than enough time to make that impression as he suits up for what seems like his inevitable Super Bowl game with Saddam Hussein. In his State of the Union message tonight, he encouraged us to trust his judgment, sort of like a football team must trust its coach, as he moves the country closer to war. But a coach has to earn his team's trust. And Americans have reason to be skeptical of this president's judgment. Consider his ill-conceived tax initiatives.

In his inaugural address, he promised to leave no child behind. But his war on the estate tax, the revenue from which could pay for health insurance for every uninsured American child, suggests that his first priority is our wealthiest children. The $5.6 trillion dollars of federal surpluses that he foresaw, based on fuzzy math, less than two years ago to justify his $1.3 trillion tax cut have predictably disappeared. His current proposal for $670 billion of tax cuts will have little more success in lifting the economy out of its doldrums than a sail boat might have in tugging a battleship. Yet the sheer magnitude of his proposal--which if adopted would bring his total tax cuts to over $2 trillion--is a libertarian's dream, potentially crippling domestic programs that have been staples of our democracy. President Bush told us tonight that his tax proposal will provide 92 million Americans an average tax savings of nearly $1,100; but this figure is misleading, because it takes into account the enormous tax savings of people with the highest earnings. Surely the president knows that the average tax savings of the average American will be closer to $270. And nothing in his State of the Union talk proposes a solution to the potential $10 trillion unfunded Social Security deficit, which Alan Greenspan advises must be addressed before we can evaluate any tax changes.

The president's inexperience in matters of war adds to our reasons to be skeptical about trusting his ability to weigh the risks of war, particularly in the absence of findings by U.N. inspectors that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Surely Saddam Hussein is potentially dangerous, and his evasive tactics are maddening. But until we have more concrete evidence that he poses a clear and present danger today, we would do well to remember the counsel of President Kennedy, in his Veteran's Day Address in 1961: "No man who witnessed the tragedies of the last war, no man who can imagine the unimaginable possibilities of the next war can advocate war out of irritability or frustration or impatience."

James Hartley, associate professor of economics:
Iraq is clearly the thing which weighs most on the President's mind, and rightfully so. That is the job of the President after all: to act as an adult when everyone around him is not. The menace is real, and for far too long this country has stood by and watched as the peril grew. Tonight, we heard that we are done waiting, and rightfully so. Tonight, we heard that Americans will no longer wait while the world dithers, and rightfully so. We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, and tonight we heard from a President who understands what that means, who understands that to preserve our lives, our liberty and our very ability to pursue happiness, to preserve these things, then evil must be defeated. The burden of defeating that evil has been placed at our feet, and tonight we heard from our President that we accept that burden, and rightfully so.

Jean Grossholtz, professor emeritus of politics and women's studies:
I am constantly amazed at Mr. Bush’s ability to make comments about compassion and caring and God while promoting some of the most brutal policies with respect to people's needs. He speaks of his education reforms but our public schools have never been in such danger. All over the country states are projecting reduced school hours, reduced teachers, larger classes in the face of massive budget deficits. He speaks of his concern for jobs but we have never had such unemployment and we have in our cities right here in happy valley working families who are homeless because they can’t earn enough to pay rent. Formerly middle class people are losing their homes. Every economic analysis of his economic stimulus package I have seen shows it to be a beneficent gift to the wealthy. He notes that a family with an income of $40,000 would reduce their taxes from $1,178 to $45 ... but he fails to tell us how much it would reduce the taxes of someone making $300,000. He expresses concern for senior citizens yet it was his administration which tried to remove the federal protection for pension plans, thus putting more than 800 million Americans at risk.

He sees himself as a protector of the environment but withdrew American support for the internationally negotiated Kyoto treaty on the environment. He speaks of law and justice but has refused to sign the world criminal court created by international treaty.

He speaks of disarmament but walked away from the Anti ballistic missile treaty with the Soviets. He touts himself as a protector of the environment, but he has threatened the Alaskan wilderness, reduced the emissions standards, refused to enforce restrictions on auto manufacturers, and increased the allowable amount of arsenic in our water. And now he tells us that he has evidence of Iraq’s nuclear weapons but gives no evidence. He talks of an alliance but in the end he will go it alone. And he will not be acting in the best interests of the American people and he will not be acting in my name. Will he be acting in yours?

For example, he did not propose any help to state governments struggling with huge deficits. On the contrary, he proposed to make those deficits worse by cutting federal revenues by $675 billion. With the federal government spending less on public services, states will have to raise taxes and cut services at the same time, as Massachusetts is now doing. This kind of shell game doesn't do the voters any favors.

The president did not explain what a war in Iraq -- and the occupation afterwards -- will cost taxpayers. We paid only 19 percent of the cost of the Gulf War. We will have to pay about 90 percent of this one. That, too, will hurt.

The president promised that 'We will not pass on our problems to other Congresses,' but that is precisely what the deficits generated by his tax cuts and war will do. This president, like Ronald Reagan before him, is like a kid with a credit card. He is generating oceans of red ink, which will cripple the capacity of governments at all levels to cope with pressing problems. He is overspending now and sending the bill to our children, who will eventually have to choose between giving up their ambitions or supporting our generation in its old age. What ever happened to the Republicans as the party of fiscal responsibility?

The president proposed yet another intelligence agency on top of the many we have already. This additional layer of bureaucracy will not make our counter-terrorism effort more efficient. It will make it less efficient -- like trying to find needles in a haystack by generating more hay.