President Bush Criticized for Foreign Policy and Economy

Democratic Senator from Virginia, Jim Webb, gave the response the President Bush's State of the Union Address yesterday evening.

He began by stating his hopes that the current administration is serious about tackling the issues covered in the President's address.

Although last night's speech marked the seventh time President Bush has mentioned energy form as a new policy, this is the first time it has been said to a Democratic Congress. Senator Webb is looking forward to working with the President on energy reform.

Whereas President Bush commended the nation's economy for continuing to improve and decrease the national deficit, Senator Webb holds a different opinion. Even though the stock market is at its all-time high, the gap between the classes continues to widen.

When Senator Webb graduated from college in 1968, the average corporate CEO was making twenty (20) times what the average worker brought home. In current times, the earnings of corporate CEO's has grown to four hundred (400) times that of average workers.

Putting this figure into perspective, Senator Webb pointed out that this means it would take the average worker a year to make what his or her boss makes in one day. As Senator Webb stated, the middle class is losing its place at the table.

To further develop upon this issue, Senator Webb drew upon former President Andrew Jackson's model of an American democracy. In this, one would measure the health of a society not at its apex, but rather at its base. Senator Webb states that "we must recapture that spirit today."

Turning his focus to the President's foreign policy, Senator Webb shared a photo of his father, a former Marine helicopter pilot, on duty. He stressed the importance of the citizens and those serving to trust the judgment of the country's leaders. He then targeted President Bush as having brought us into this war recklessly.

In Senator Webb's opinion, as well as the opinion of many in our country, based on approval ratings, we need a new direction. Senator Webb proposes an "immediate shift towards strong regionally-based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq cities, and a formula that will in short order allow our combat forces to leave Iraq."

It is in the best interests of this country that our newly divided government continues to work together in implementing the great deal of changes discussed last night during the speeches of these two politicians. We are ready for a change, and it will be interesting to see modifications to current times.