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Pre State of the Union 2005

"The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Article II, Sec. 3, U.S. Constitution

First and foremost among those efforts is a plan to change the 70-year-old Social Security (search) program by offering private retirement accounts. Last year, the topic scored just two sentences in the State of the Union. This year, it's the signature topic of his 40-minute speech before Congress and a nationally televised audience. - FoxNews

Chief Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, who incidentally studied theology at Wheaton College, said the address will offer "fairly extraordinary detail on the Social Security personal accounts that Bush wants to allow younger workers to create."

Social security does indeed need reform. The demographic data speaks boldly about the future disparity between those drawing from and those paying into the social security trust.

Speaking of the trust, will Bush address the $1.3 trillion SS trust fund that has been lent to the U.S. Treasury Department's General Fund? This is a debt that cannot just be serviced but must be paid back, in full.

Gerson has given Bush the ability to speak and appeal to the Christian right. I would like to hear what Bush has to say to these conservatives who came out in number to support him. Is Bush going to act according to his emphasis on the value of life? Why has he backed away from a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage? Other than a few remarks, the President has been silent on these important domestic issues since his election.

Finally, along with celebratory comments about the elections in Iraq, will Bush address major world crisis, such as the genocide in Dafur by the government of Sudan?

I'm hopeful.

Update: Blogs4Bush has excerpts.

Posted by tim at February 2, 2005 5:05 PM

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