What a Progressive President Might Say (Melody Barnes writing in 2007)

[depakid]

Tomorrow President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address. While this speech is sure to be filled with the President's plans for moving the nation forward, it is also sure to be very different from one that a progressive would deliver. If we had a newly elected progressive President, below is the kind of State of the Union address he or she might give.

"My fellow Americans, let us tonight put aside our partisan interests and picture an America where citizens once again enjoy an open, honest, competent government. A government that turns away from reckless military adventures and concentrates on the genuine external threats we face as a nation. A government that works to ensure economic opportunity, affordable healthcare and a secure retirement for all.

The war in Iraq has turned into a tragedy of epic proportions, harming this country militarily, economically, diplomatically and politically. And while we can not withdraw our troops tomorrow, we also can not engage in an open-ended military engagement, sending more young men and women to die. I propose instead that we embark upon an immediate program of strategic redeployment, starting with a phased withdrawal of our armed forces over a period of 18 months. Under this plan, we would draw down our troops at the rate of 8,000 per month until our presence in Iraq is reduced to zero. Soldiers and Marines who remain during this interim phase will have important work to do, training Iraqi forces, rooting out terrorists, maintaining border security and helping to revive the country economically. In addition, we must finish the job in Afghanistan, eliminating al-Qaeda and the Taliban once and for all. This means increasing our troop presence there, not decreasing it.

At the same time, we will energize our diplomatic efforts by convening a peace conference, with international backing, to be attended by all of Iraq's neighbors. This means engaging Syria and Iran, who have an interest in making sure Iraq remains stable.

Here at home there is urgent work to do to fight the historically high -- and growing -- gap between our richest and poorest citizens. While the mean income of households on the low end of the income spectrum -- the bottom 20 percent -- is just $10,655 a year, the income of the top twenty percent of households averages almost $160,000. That's 15 times as much.

At the same time, according to the latest census figures, the middle class, beset with stagnant wages and mountainous debts, is shrinking. The sad fact is that one of our most cherished values as a society, namely equality of opportunity, is fading as a reality for far too many people. Economists have shown that a child born into a lower-income family has only a 1 percent chance of making it to the top of the income distribution, while children from prosperous families have a 22 percent chance. To restore fairness to our system, I will embark on a multi-faceted approach including increasing our investment in public education, promoting genuine health care reform, and backing a higher minimum wage.

Domestically, no need is more urgent than fixing our broken health care system....

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901125.html
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So, how do you like America's new Domestic Policy Council Director?

[Gman]

1. She must be another stealth DLC'er

and corporatist that expects us to march lockstep into oblivion...

...is that how it goes?