President Bush’s SOTU Speech Ignores Facts On The Ground In Iraq and At Home (Gerald W. McEntee)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscme.org/press/13258.cfm

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, January 23, 2007
President Bush’s SOTU Speech Ignores Facts On The Ground In Iraq and At Home

AFSCME’s McEntee: “Americans voted for a new direction, not new rhetoric dressed up as reform.”

WASHINGTON — Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, issued the following statement in response to President Bush’s State of the Union address Tuesday night:

“President Bush appears to be living in a different America than the rest of us. His State of the Union speech made clear that he is dangerously out of touch with reality.

“Just as he has in Iraq, President Bush ignores the facts on the ground here at home. Wages are stagnant while corporate profits soar. Worker pensions are under attack, and nearly 47 million Americans lack health insurance. Meanwhile, our brave soldiers are deployed every day with bull’s-eyes on their backs to fight a mismanaged war of choice.

“In November, Americans voted for a new direction, not new rhetoric dressed up as reform. Tonight, George W. Bush missed what may be his last opportunity to listen to the American people and meaningfully tackle the challenges we face.

“The President could have charted a bipartisan course to rein in the skyrocketing costs of health care and college tuition and end this ill-conceived and costly war. Instead, he continues to advocate tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy, while insisting on under-funding essential public services and ‘saving’ Social Security by dismantling it. His health care plan is the wrong prescription because it fails to control costs and only makes a broken system worse.

“Conspicuously absent from his speech was any reference to helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina or providing assistance for 9/11 first responders and recovery workers who are sick and dying as a result of their exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.

“The state of our union will continue to deteriorate as long as our stubborn President refuses to accept reality and heed Americans’ yearning for change.”