Did you hear the President's speech? I sure hope so. It was an inspiring performance - certainly his best ever - in which a clear and progressive domestic agenda was put forth for George W. Bush's next term in office. Of course, I'm still waiting for follow-through on the domestic agenda W promised the first time around.
Okay, now the hype is over and (depending on which polls you read) the post-convention bounce is starting to fade. Americans are coming back around to acknowledging the facts:
- According to the Labor Department, 1.65 million private sector jobs have been lost since Bush took office - W will now be the first President since Hoover to have a net loss of jobs during a term
- A few million more Americans are living in poverty since W took office while several million more are without basic health insurance (up to 45 million now)
- Gas prices are at historic highs with no relief in sight, setting the scene for a long, cold winter
- Record setting budget deficits are back - deficits which were eliminated under the "failure" Clinton
- Meanwhile, W looks at the above and proclaims that his policies are working and asks for a second term to make permanent the tax cuts that have brought us back into massive debt and depression
On the international front, Americans are dying daily in an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq that was supposed to be over a year ago. We were supposed to be hailed as heroes, and instead our soldiers are in constant daily danger.
Yes, we arrested Saddam Hussein, but, just a few hundred miles away, Osama bin Laden roams free. We parade Saddam around as a surrogate for all that's wrong in the world, while the real villain who attacked America laughs at us.
We have about 140,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and only 17,000 in Afghanistan where the former Public Enemy Number One is in hiding and continuing to plot against us. How is this leadership, security, justice, or success?
These are the facts. And yet, there is still a darn good chance that George W. Bush will be re-elected to another four years as our President. How can that possibly be?
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