BUSH'S DOMESTIC AGENDA


Fiscal Policy : The main plank of Bush's domestic agenda remains massive tax cuts for the wealthy, in this case making these tax cuts - in this case removing the disingenuous sunset provisions from the cuts in the first term. As for the deficit, Bush plans to address it with rhetoric.


Cultural Issues : The second main plank of Bush's domestic agenda is to promote a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage. Its not that Bush really plans to spend any political capital on the issue, but rather it makes a wonderful election-year sideshow to mobilize the religious right and to distract blue-collar culturally right-of-center voters from the rest of Bush's domestic agenda or lack thereof. Bush also proposed micro-initiatives such as money for abstitence programs, public school drug testing (sorry kids, we can't afford chalk...but we do have plenty of vials for urine samples), and the serious issue of steroid abuse in professional sports (camera pan to Tom Brady).


Socioeconomic Issues : Here Bush put forward two initiatives, his recent Temporary Worker Program on the issue of immigration reform, and his plan to partially privatize Social Security. In addition, Bush played defense on Education and Health Care. With regard to Education, Bush put forward a fantastically unambitious selection of meaningless micro-initatives (for example inviting Math and Science professionals to teach part time in high schools) under the grandiose title of "Jobs for the 21st Century." On Health Care, Bush proposed a series of shopworn proposals that merely tinker around the edges. No doubt, the centerpiece (especially against Edwards should he take the nomination) will be tort reform.

Faith-Based Social Service : This issue actually straddles both cultural issues - in that it serves as a wedge issue along cultural lines, but in fact is a plan to address social needs. Under a truly Compassionate Conservative agenda, this issue would be the centerpiece. (However, somehow in the GOP's version of the Gospels, Jesus comes out for deep tax cuts for the rich.) That being said, in this area, Bush 1) pushed for the codification of his executive action removing barriers to government funding for faith-based social service providers, and 2) offerred a 4-year $300 million Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative, which appears to have the fingerprints of evangelical prisoner advocate, Charles Colson, all over it.




All in all, a pretty uninspiring agenda that fails to address the yawning deficit, the growing disparity between rich and poor, the antiquated and incomplete health-care system, environmental concerns, and our underfunded education system. All of the Democratic candidates will propose a radically better blueprint for how to adress all of these issues. The question is who will be able to convince the American people 1) that this is true, and 2) that they should choose their president accordingly.