'Speeches come and go, but policies continue'

Jim Wallis

The president's State of the Union address sounded like it was cut and pasted from so many old speeches. There was nothing new last night. Easily agreed-to rhetoric about freedom, growth, opportunity, and civility hides the facts:

1. George Bush's foreign policy, and the way he fights his war on terrorism, is making our families less safe and secure, not more. His war in Iraq was based on false pretenses and has utterly failed. Yet, the president doesn't seem to have the capacity for self-examination, or the moral sense to change the nation's course.

2. George Bush's former rhetoric of compassionate conservatism has all but disappeared, and his domestic policies have clearly increased poverty in the United States. Overseas, shining promises to reduce global poverty have fallen tragically short. Last night he promised to continue down the path of moral hypocrisy with tax and spending cuts that further enrich the wealthy and impoverish the poor.

The facts of George Bush's policies undercut the moral values that many Americans, especially many of us in the religious community, hold dear. When rhetoric hides the facts, moral integrity suffers. Speeches come and go, but policies continue. And the facts of the Bush administration's policies will continue to turn true moral values voters away from this president.

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