In his victory speech the other day President Bush made some conciliatory remarks about the need to reach out to those who had voted for his opponent and to bring the country together. This is all fine and good, but he then went on to describe his second term plans in language that was clearly meant to signal to his supporters that everything is full steam ahead for their radical right agenda. At least, that is how I heard it.
Here is the part of the speech that caught my attention with my initial reactions in parenthesis:
"Because we have done the hard work, we are entering a season of hope. We'll
continue our economic progress. (Cough! Cough!) We'll reform our outdated
tax code. (More tax cuts for the rich!!) We'll strengthen the Social
Security for the next generation. (Privatization! Get ready to roll the dice
on your retirement income.) We'll make public schools all they can be.
(Standardized test factories for poor kids who can't afford to go to real
schools!) And we will uphold our deepest values of family and faith." (Outlaw
abortion! Bash Gays! Teach creationism in the schools!)
Okay, so maybe I wasn't in the most conciliatory mood when I was listening to the speech. But I don't believe for a second that Bush is seriously reaching out to anyone who is not willing to walk lockstep with him on every issue. He didn't do it when he was the popular vote loser, so why would he start now?
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