Last night we heard President Bush deliver the State of Union Address. His first in front of a democratic controlled Congress. Overall I think the President delivered a good speech. He highlighted some key domestic issues that I think will be important to this country. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll see much of it happen with the Liberals running Congress and the partisan politics that will disrupt any real progress in the next two years. Let’s take a look at some of the domestic and foreign policy points the President addressed.

First despite what you might here from the liberals and media, the President highlighted the fact that we are “41^st month of uninterrupted job growth.” He showed that our economy is running strong and that it continues to grow. A lot of that growth can be attributed to the tax cuts that he has put in place throughout his Presidency. They have been vital and giving people the incentive to invest in their businesses and their future and given companies more capital to invest in their company’s growth. He also touched on other highlights of his Presidency including the successes of the “No Child Left Behind Act.”

The President also made some proposals for our country and the way forward on the home front. First was the issue of Health Care. What I like here is that unlike Hillary and other socialists who want Socialized Universal Healthcare, President Bush wants to give more power and incentive to the people to obtain their own private insurance through a tax deduction. This would be a good thing for the people to have. The President made one great statement referring the people making their own decisions and that was, “…we must remember that the best health care decisions are made not by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors.” If the democrats get their way we can look forward to the government making those decisions for us and it becoming a crime to choose your own private doctor versus the government choice for you. Experience Canada’s and Europe’s health systems and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Another issue the President discussed was the problems with illegal immigration sort of. He again proposed the temporary worker program and giving those that want to come here and work the ability to do so legally without having to sneak across the border. He also mentioned that the Border Patrol force would be doubled. In order to really secure our borders though, he really needs to look at shutting the border down and yanking out the welcome mat for all illegal aliens. Again all these people here illegally are a slap in the face to the people like my Mom who did the years of work to legally come here and become a US citizen. Amnesty is not the way. The illegals need to be shown that they are not welcome here unless they come here legally like many others do.

Finally prior to discussing the war, the President tackled on the domestic side was that of energy and our dependence on foreign oil. The President made some good suggestions about pushing the effort on increasing research and development of alternative fuel sources that could lower our gasoline dependence by 20% over the next ten years. That’s great! The more alternative cleaner fuel sources we have the better. What also needed to be addressed and wasn’t, was what do we do in the meantime. Until those uses are brought to the market and affordable we continue to depend on foreign oil and are at the will of their production and pricing. We need to go after our own oil and natural gas sources in the meantime to stop that dependence until we are to the point that alternative fuel sources are a mainstay in this nation

Lastly the President switched to foreign policy. Now I know there are issues on the domestic side where the President some additional work and in someway seems to try to appease the left rather than fight. The foreign front and the War on Islamic Fascism is once again where the President shined and really showed some courage. He did a great job outlining the broader scope of the war and the implications of what would happen if Iraq is just left to be overrun. I would have liked to see him touch more on Iran and North Korea, but overall this was a good area for him. He also could have addressed the fact that we are at war with Islamic Fascism and not terrorists. They are radical Muslims who believe God has called them to spread their will through the death and destruction of the non-believers.

What I cannot get over and just bothers me like crazy is the stark polarity we see with Congress when he makes his points on our defense and the war. The dems refused to stand when it came to the strategy going forward on the war and what the President and his commanders are trying to accomplish. They do not stand or clap when he lays out the devastating effects that would come from leaving an Iraq to the Islamic Fascists to overrun. When he discusses the need for success and victory, they don’t clap along with Republicans, but when he mentions supporting those fighting for our nation they then stand up. It gets to me because they are so phony. The liberals constantly undermine and speak falsehoods about the progress of the war and our President. How can you undermine the efforts of our men and women in uniform and claim to still support our troops. It’s very contradictory and I wish the American people would see through it.

Well now we have more ideas laid out for the future here and overseas. As I mentioned, I don’t believer much will be accomplished in Congress as the dems won’t be able to get some their socialist items through. They’re trying to hide themselves until the 2008 election. I think the President did well in addressing the nation and proposed some good ideas for the way forward, although on the domestic side there is a more that could be done to bring more freedom back to the American people and reducing the size of federal government and I wish the President would see that. He is unfortunately a big spending republican. On the foreign side and the war though, he did good job I think overall. He could have focused more on Iran and threat they and North Korea pose, but still did a good job of looking at the overall picture of the War on Islamic Fascism. Again, he also could have addressed the fact that we are at war with Islamic Fascism and not terrorist. He acknowledged the fact that we are in an ideological struggle against and evil enemy, but never called them what they truly are and that is Islamic Fascist. They are Muslims who believe in a radical ideology to kill innocents and I wish the efforts to dance around that term would stop. They are what they are.