I listened to part of George W. Bush's speech from New York, his "State of the Economy" address. And, I just don't think he's on the same planet with the rest of us.
On Planet Bush, the economy is strong. It's not an issue that senior citizens are swimming in debt.
It's not an issue that 46 million Americans don't have health insurance. It's not an issue that practically every American I know has to work two or three jobs, to barely make ends meet. It's not an issue that few Americans have savings accounts.
On Planet Bush, everything is just fine.
On Planet Bush, we're winning a global war on terror. Never mind that it's spiraling the national debt ever deeper and that our nation's grandchildren will have to pay for Halliburton's windfall profits. Never mind the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that we've killed. Never mind that the rest of the world hates the United States for cowboying its way wherever it wants, whenever it wants. Never mind that there may be a feasible reason as to why a group of people might rise up against another group of people.
On Planet Bush, the world is just like it's supposed to be.
On Planet Bush, no billionaire is left behind.
Ignore the crumbling schools. Ignore the overworked and underpaid teachers. Ignore how pitifully our children's standardized test scores stack up next to the standardized test scores of kids from other countries.
On Planet Bush, education is a top priority (cough, cough).
Yep, it must be nice to live on Planet Bush, where the only things that matter are that the cost of dollars are low, unemployment is low (thanks to all those minimum wage jobs), and profits are up.
There's never been a better time for the rich to get richer. There's never been a better time for naked corporate greed.
I guess I'm just supposed to be grateful that someone gets to live on Planet Bush. TWH
www.sushituesday.com
Tim Hooker is an English professor in Tennessee. He is the author of three books: "Rocket Man: A Rhapsody of Short Stories," "Duncan Hambeth: Furniture King of the South," and "Looking For A City." His politics are progressive liberal; his religion is Catholic Humanism. He is married, with four cats.
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