Pres. George W. Bush didn’t waste many words on the salvation of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast after Katrina in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Indeed, he put forth only 163 words out of thousands in our direction. But it was understandable. He was talking to the entire nation, not just to our small segment and most of his talk concerned the rest of the world.
He gave time to just about every item on his agenda, and quite an agenda it is. His main focus was on a foreign policy that would help make the world freer and more democratic. He also spent time on deploring the nation’s “addiction to oil” and offering some solutions to the problem. One of them was the production of more ethanol which could use more Louisiana sugar which made Cong. Charlie Melancon, former head of the Louisiana Sugar League, very happy.
The President then brushed through a litany of wishes from making the tax cuts permanent to making health care more affordable. We had almost given up waiting when he got to Louisiana’s problem. He generalized without specifics on helping the area rebuild and also emphasized making it better than before Katrina with improved schools and upscaled jobs available.
Overall, his speech was enlightening and encouraging. His outlook in running the country has not changed. He wants a safer world with free trade and higher standards of living throughout. He wants just enough government to handle the things only the public sector can. And he wants to leave office with the feeling that he has accomplished what he set out for.
He has a lot yet to do to achieve that in his remaining years. But he is not about to give up.
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