The Economy
Bush Racks Up More Debt
For the third time in three years, Congress will have to raise the federal debt ceiling, thus increasing the government's borrowing authority by as much as $800 billion. According to the Washington Post editorial board, "the Treasury Department has been doing the governmental equivalent of scrounging for spare change in the couch cushions to pay its obligations." This latest hike in the debt limit will amount to a grand total of more than $2 trillion during Bush's first term. "The deficits [the government] racks up year after year impede economic growth, burden future generations and force the United States to rely on foreign governments and investors," the Post reports. "Meanwhile, as the government has to pay more interest on its debt, it has less for health care, education and other programs." In his first State of the Union address, Bush spoke of his plan to pay off over the next decade the entire $2 trillion debt held by the public at that time. He said, "We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act now." As it stands today, the debt is on track to reach the $6.5 trillion mark by 2011.
Source: The Washington Post, "Soaring Ceilings," Editorial Board, Nov. 17, 2004.
Bush Plans to Overhaul the Tax Code
Bush never gets tired of indulging the special interests of wealthy Americans. Sources close to the White House say that the Bush administration is considering a tax code overhaul that would drastically cut, if not eliminate, taxes on savings and investment. According to advisors, Bush plans to push major amendments that would shield interest, dividends and capitals gains from taxation, expand tax breaks for business investment and take other steps to "encourage economic growth." To pay for these changes, the administration is considering eliminating the deduction of state and local taxes on federal income tax returns and doing away with tax deductions for employers who provide their workers with health insurance. Bush has said that tax policy will be the centerpiece of his domestic agenda in the coming years. And during his campaign, he said replacing the income tax with a national sales tax was "an interesting idea."
Source: The Washington Post, "Bush Plans Tax Code Overhaul," Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, Nov. 18, 2004.
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Domestic Policy
Bush Sides with the Drug Companies
In November 2004 the media focused on the pharmaceutical drug Vioxx and its dangerous side effects. Mounting evidence suggests that Merck, Vioxx's distributor, concealed proof that the painkiller can increase a consumer's chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke. Merck may have been aware of these potential dangers for at least the past five years. The Wall Street Journal uncovered a 16-page internal training document that encouraged Merck employees to dodge questions from doctors concerned about Vioxx's cardiovascular side effects. The Justice Department has launched an investigation into this matter. Jerry Avorn, a Harvard University drug safety expert says that "the FDA has been asleep at the switch in its regulatory function." Over 10,000 people are now filing lawsuits against Merck on behalf of those harmed or killed by taking the drug. Meanwhile, George W. Bush continues to strongly advocate tort reform, which would cap the amount of money victims of medical error could win in a lawsuit. In December 2003, FDA Chief Counsel Daniel Troy promised a group of drug industry lobbyists that "the FDA would exercise its intervention powers to protect [drug industry] defendants" from lawsuits. Since Bush took office, the FDA or Department of Justice has repeatedly intervened in cases on behalf of pharmaceutical company defendants, each time claiming that the FDA's own judgment to approve drugs means that drug companies cannot be held responsible.
Sources: American Progress Action Fund, "The Merck-y Case for Tort Reform," Christy Harvey, Judd Legum, and Jonathan Baskin, Nov. 10, 2004.
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Appointments
Bush Continues to Surround Himself with "Yes" People
In the weeks following his reelection, six of Bush's 15 Cabinet members have resigned. It's not unusual for a president to make changes in his cabinet to energize a second term, but according to American University presidential scholar Allan Lichtman, "It's unusual to have it come this heavy and so soon, including two of the top positions." Lichtman was referring to the resignations of Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Their vacancies likely will be filled by White House counsel Alberto Gonzalez and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice respectively, both members of Bush's loyal inner circle. This has spurred accusations that Bush is surrounding himself with "yes" people, a practice Lichtman says "can lead to colossal lapses in judgment." Last year Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill quit after clashing with Bush over tax cuts. O'Neill later called Bush "a blind man in a room full of deaf people." In addition to Ashcroft and Powell, Education Secretary Rod Paige, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham have also resigned.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch, "All Eyes on Bush's Cabinet Turnover," Marilyn Rauber, Nov. 21, 2004.
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Special Reports
Bush's First Post-Election Press Conference
Bush is back for a second term and he's cockier and more defensive than ever. In his first press conference after the election, Bush displayed his thinly-veiled disdain for the press, opening with the line, "Yesterday I pledged to reach out to the whole nation, and today I'm proving that I'm willing to reach out to everybody by including the White House press corps." Bush was quick to lay new ground rules for his press conferences, citing "the will of the people" as justification for the "one-part question rule" and the "no follow-up question rule." When asked if he felt more "free" after winning a second term, Bush stated bluntly: "Let me put it to you this way. I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style."
Source: President's Post-Election Press Conference Transcript, Nov. 4, 2004.
A Clinical Psychologist Analyzes Bush's Language
An interesting email made the rounds after the election calling attention to a 2003 article in The Nation by Dr. Renana Brooks called "A Nation of Victims." In the article, Brooks, a clinical psychologist and founder and director of the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion, makes the argument that George W. Bush uses dependency-creating language to dominate others and advance his right-wing agenda. Brooks says, "[Bush] employs language of contempt and intimidation to shame others into submission and desperate admiration." Brooks cites three tactics she says Bush uses to accomplish this: empty language, personalization and negative framework.
Empty language refers to broad statements that are so abstract and meaningless that they are virtually impossible to oppose. Brooks claims Bush's 2003 State of the Union address contained 39 examples of empty language, such as his reducing the complex relationship between malpractice insurance and skyrocketing healthcare costs to the simple statement, "No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit."
Personalization focuses the attention of the listener on the speaker's personality. "Bush projects himself as the only person capable of producing results," Brooks says. She cites examples of Bush referring to himself or his personal characteristics as the answer to the country's problems, such as "I will not forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security of the American people." Brooks contrasts that language with John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
Finally, Bush uses the linguistic technique of negative framework to create and maintain pessimistic images in his listeners' minds until his political opposition "feels such a high level of anxiety that it appears pointless to do anything other than cower." Brooks compares Bush's language after the 9/11 attacks to Franklin Roosevelt's speech the day after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. Bush's speech included such lines as, "Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen?. I ask you to live your lives, and hug your children. I know many citizens have fears tonight?. Be calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat." Roosevelt, on the other hand, took a more optimistic approach saying, "No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in the righteous might will win through to absolute victory." Brooks says that Bush "describes the nation as being in a perpetual state of crisis and then attempts to convince the electorate that it is powerless and that he is the only one with the strength to deal with it." Brooks encouraged Bush's political opponents to combat his pessimism with statements that encourage hope and optimism.
Source: The Nation, "A Nation of Victims," Renana Brooks, Ph.D., June 12, 2003.
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Bushisms
"With the campaign over, Americans are expecting a bipartisan effort and results. I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals."
— In his first press conference after the election on Nov. 4, 2004.
"Now that I've got the will of the people at my back, I'm going to start enforcing the one-question rule."
"Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously you didn't listen to the will of the people."
— Laying down the law at the post-election press conference. Nov. 4, 2004.
"I always jest to people, the Oval Office is the kind of place for people standing outside- they're getting ready to come in and tell me what for, and they walk in and get overwhelmed by the atmosphere, and they say, 'Man, you're looking pretty.'"
— Explaining to reporters at the post-election press conference (Nov. 4, 2004) that people forget their political agendas when meeting him in the White House.
"I was impressed every day by how hard and how skillful our team was."
— In his victory speech on Nov. 3, 2004
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