State of the Union addresses are primarily theatrical productions and not deliberative policy-making summits. The president speaks, often in soaring platitudes and always while reciting a litany of luminous promises and goals. Members of Congress applaud or cheer, while justices of the Supreme Court, Cabinet officials and Joint Chiefs of Staff leaders clap respectfully. Everybody knows the occasion is mainly ceremonial and celebratory, a peculiar but defining rite of the American republic.
But there were moments during President Bush’s Tuesday evening address to the nation in which it appeared more than a few members of the Democratic majority in Congress preferred to put the opportunity to score narrow partisan points above ceremony, above respect for the office of the president and above even the simple expression of hope for American success overseas, however that might be defined. This was especially evident when many Democrats remained seated and silent after Bush offered the following appeal:
“This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we’re in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned and our own security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. Let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory.”
Surely such a candid expression of a communal desire for American success deserves at the very least polite applause. To do otherwise is to tell the watching world that a significant segment of American leadership wants to abandon this nation’s declared aims in Iraq, including most especially the establishment of a stable democracy there and an ally in the war against terrorism.
To be sure, there were Republicans who showed disrespect during President Clinton’s several State of the Union addresses, so neither party has had a monopoly on such displays of selfish partisanship.
In a post-Sept. 11 world, however, the need for unity is especially critical.
It was also disconcerting to hear Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., asserting in the official Democratic response that “the majority of the military” does not support “the way this war is being fought.”
The only poll of military members that we are aware of was recently conducted by Military Times. That survey found 35 percent of those polled support Bush’s conduct of the war. What Webb didn’t mention is that the survey covered only Military Times subscribers. Webb also did not mention Military Times’ caution that “the results should not be read as representative of the military as a whole.”
While Americans voted for new directions in Washington last November, using such misrepresentations and half-truths can only lead to more discord and disunity in the American body politic.
