Updated: Progressives Rip Bush's Speech [VIDEO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 9:50 PM on January 23, 2007.

Bush's 6th State of the Union speech is, well, over.

Below is an overview of progressive responses, both general and specific. For the video of the official Democratic rebuttal, go HERE.

*Blogger Josh Marshall videotaped his response, video right, touching on Iran in the crosshairs and the pathetic undertones of the speech in general.

*Many (including Obama) have noted that Katrina didn't rate a single mention, despite last year's pronouncement that:

"A hopeful society comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency -- and stays at it until they're back on their feet. So far the federal government has committed $85 billion to the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. We're removing debris and repairing highways and rebuilding stronger levees. We're providing business loans and housing assistance. Yet as we meet these immediate needs, we must also address deeper challenges that existed before the storm arrived."

*Calling his few policy proposals "uniformly awful," Ezra Klein sums up the pompless pomp best:

"The Democratic Majority robbed the threat of action from Bush's rhetoric. His cruel health plan and Social Security fear mongering are evanescent annoyances, not upcoming agenda items. He's weak, and you sense he knows it. The speech hit the notes it needed to and no more. It was, this time, a formality, a book report bound and delivered to Congress, just as the assignment called for. He sought checkmarks for attendance and completion, and went home."

*John Aravosis, in a post titled "Man, that sucked," goes the Christo route, noting what was missing:

"Speaking of ignoring, what the hell happened to family values and the social conservatives. Did they get ANYTHING in the entire speech? Abortion, gone. Activist judges, gone. Gay marriage, gone. That's the sleeper shocker of this speech, the utter cleansing of anything that would appeal to the family values crowd. They have truly become the crazy aunt in the attic, to be hidden at all costs."

Here are some other progressive responses to issues Bush actually did raise...

ON KITCHEN TABLE ISSUES:

"President Bush's address proved that he exists in his own bubble. He can't level with the people on Iraq, and he has no clue about the economy's effects on working families. As a result, the policies that he proposed on Iraq, health care, education and the economy ignore the realities that we face and only dig our country deeper into the hole."

--Robert Borosage, co-director, Campaign for America's Future

ON HEALTH CARE:

"President Bush's health care proposals are dead on arrival. They will not be taken seriously by the Congress because no proven health expert and few American families believe that a tax credit will help Americans get good health care coverage. The president's health care proposals are like his rejected plans to privatize Social Security, his health savings accounts and his Medicare prescription drug plan. They benefit the wealthy and the special interests, leaving the rest of us on our own."

--Roger Hickey, co-director, Campaign for America's Future

ON ENERGY:

"Like on Iraq, President Bush isn't listening to the American people on energy independence. The president convinced us that we have an energy problem, but he hasn't convinced us that he has a solution. He defined a bold goal, but needs to give us the tools to reach it. Members of Congress from both parties have proposed legislation that goes farther than what the president put on the table. President Bush could be leading this march, but instead, he is falling to the back of the line."

--Jerome Ringo, president, Apollo Alliance

Tagged as: sotu, bush, progressives

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.