First Impressions -- State of the Union

President Bush gave his last State of the Union speech tonight. As I watched it, I thought about all the missed opportunities these last years -- missed the boat on global warming, waited around too long on the housing/mortgage mess, didn't seem to even notice our lagging economy until Speaker Nancy Pelosi went personally to the White House to lay the cards on the table ... and sadly, I simply had to laugh about the President's promise to veto what he identified as excessive earmarks.

My laugh ... falling into the category of "Not a laughing matter but doesn't matter if you laugh" ... was because I remembered how the growing number of earmarks never bothered him before -- not last year, not really ever. You can check the record for yourself at the Congressional Research Service, but first, see below for samples of the growing number of earmarks these last seven years. It started with defense but the reality has been that earmarks under Bush have been for literally everything.

• FY 2000 ... 997 earmarks in defense appropriations and 491 in the domestic spending bill
  
• FY 2002 ... first defense bill -- 1409 earmarks (a 40% increase) and 1606 in the domestic spending bill
  
• FY 2004 ... 2208 earmarks (56% more than 2002) and 2036 in the domestic bill

In 2005, there were 3014 earmarks ... a 500% increase in earmarks during just the first term. and that didn't count the Transportation Bill that year (6,371 earmarks) —50 percent higher than all previous years combined. There are also many more these last years and this year ... for the first time, the Congress has begun cutting back the numbers, while this year -- during the cutbacks, the President has chosen to complain.

However, there were bright spots. We're happy that the President has given his word so very publicly that he will support the economic stimulus package that Speaker Nancy Pelosi negotiated. It also seemed like the President was at least a little more willing to work with the Congress on other matters, too. Our country needs a new spirit of bipartisanship, and maybe ... hopefully ... tonight be part of a new start. Over the next several days, readers may expect us to share various national viewpoints on how the President did. We'll talk about the ongoing wars, too ... just $1,000,000,000 a day.

Could Congress Be Waking Up?

Could Congress Be Waking Up? The New York Times Op-Ed section has asked this question and so should we.

The Times' evaluation shows that this new Democratic Congress has made some serious progress in its first year, but still public opinion polls have registered the Congress almost as low as they do the President. In terms of measurable progress, House and Senate Democrats count ethics and lobbying reform and reining in earmarks as two of their best accomplishments.

In fact, earmarks have dropped by half -- from $29 billion to $14.1 billion. The reform bill has passed and is implemented. Perhaps more important to this writer ... and to citizens all across the country, Congress is again using its Oversight Authority to keep a watchful eye on the Executive Branch.

Although some would say the Times' article is just a little bit boring, it's worth reading and really belongs in our arsenal of information to prepare us for decisionmaking on Election Day '08.