The State of the Union address is an annual opportunity for the president to outline his accomplishments during the previous year, as well as his goals for the next. However, this year I have become increasingly aware, despite partisan spin, of what has gone right, of what has improved in our country and abroad.
In the past year, the Bush administration has successfully placed on the Supreme Court bench two brilliant and experienced jurists in Sam Alito and John Roberts. Their conservative leanings have repeatedly come under fire from liberal groups, with specific regard to their positions on abortion; however, fears that these justices will spontaneously reverse the course of women's rights are ridiculous.
Both have made clear in their confirmation hearings their respect for precedent, and reluctance to "legislate from the bench." Besides, it could be worse. Tuesday night, we could have seen Harriet Miers in black sitting next to David Souter.
If their word to faithfully uphold the law regardless of political leanings isn't enough for some, maybe Alito's first decision is. On Wednesday evening, he joined the liberal bloc of the court in approving a last-minute stay of execution for Michael Taylor, a convicted murderer in Missouri.
Another indication that things are heading in the right direction is the state of our economy. The Left would love to convince the nation that President Bush's economic policy is backward, and that we are in the midst of a recession so massive that only, I don't know, a Democratic president and Congress can stem the damage.
The fact remains, however, that the United States is not in a recession; the economy has consistently grown, though modestly, for the last few years, and steadily rising interest rates reflect that growth. That our economy can grow beyond those of most of our rivals, even in the wake of high energy prices and the most destructive natural disaster in American history, is truly impressive.
The most positive change I see, beyond the Supreme Court and the economy, is also that which receives the most biased coverage. American foreign policy for the past three years has been derided as imperialistic bullying couched in lies and corruption, destined to fail in a pool of blood spilt by innocent American soldiers.
I mourn the loss of every American service person killed in the line of duty, but I am supremely proud of the sacrifices that have liberated over 50 million people in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I recently read an op-ed by Joel Stein in the Los Angeles Times, in which he led with, "I don't support our troops." That's cute. He rails against the causes for which our troops fight, and comments, "sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam." I would like Mr. Stein to argue how 60,000 Kurds killed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein do not constitute genocide.
There are anti-war activists who argue that this war is turning into another Vietnam and that the only proper course of action is to pull out immediately, even as promising signs keep appearing. The United States Army has met or exceeded its recruiting goals for the past seven months. Reenlistments are up. We have trained over 220,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen to secure their own country. Elections have been held and democracies have been established in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The most important statistic, and that which activists haven't oft mentioned, is that troop numbers in Iraq have been reduced by 20 percent in the past two months.
Coalition forces will leave Iraq, but we must let those fighting the war determine the strategy; a premature withdrawal would result in needless American deaths, and funding cuts won't stop the war, they'll only prevent our soldiers from having access to the equipment they need?and we already have equipment shortages.
The common thread between the judiciary, the economy, and American military action abroad is that the Democrats are not fighting their battles in a way that helps the American people. The past two presidential elections have been the Democrats' to lose, and they have. For nearly a decade, the Democratic National Committee hasn't had a platform; their platform has been that the Republicans are ruining the country. What do we do when it turns out that they're not (at least not to the extent some would argue)?
Go positive. For me, the brightest spot of Tuesday night were the calls to bipartisanship by both President Bush and Democratic Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. The Democratic party needs to have more effective and more positive figureheads than Cindy Sheehan and Joe Biden.
If the Democrats want the Republicans to fight a cleaner match, then they need to come up with a platform and make the Republican Party do better. If the Democrats come up with a platform and a few good leaders, the Republicans may be in trouble, but I can guarantee that the country will be better off.