Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: News

The mixed reactions of students at the University of West Florida to President Bush's State of the Union address, shows that even among young adults in America, there remains strong political opposition.

Students were eager to comment on Bush's plans for the War on Iraq, fighting terrorism in America, the economy, education, Social Security, and the environment _ all topics addressed in Bush's speech.

Some students felt that Bush's speech will launch positive change and that his words were well thought out, while other students felt that it was a to-good-to-be-true speech, filled with empty promises that lacked a plan to be implemented.

Elizabeth Shockey, 23, a political science and international studies double major at UWF, said that overall, she was pleased with the president's speech.

"I thought that it covered all the bases necessary, and that the president didn't leave out any important issues," Shockey said.

Trevor Ten Brink, 21, also a political science and international studies double major, felt quite differently.

"Overall, I felt the speech was unremarkable," said Ten Brink. "President Bush showed no clear plans or initiatives, and I was quite let down."

Though the president said at the beginning of his speech that he hoped differences on partisan issues would no longer harden into anger, his request went unheard. Democratic officials did not bend on issues they previously opposed, and made it clear that they were proud certain bills of Bush's had been blocked.

Ten Brink said that he was proud the Democratic leaders stood their grounds on the issues they disagreed with, and they made a clear reaction to what a lot of people in America are thinking.

Generally during the speech, the party in opposition remains sitting and does not applaud, but when Bush said, "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security," Democrats responded by giving a standing ovation that lasted a decent amount of time.

Chris Crabtree, 27, a marketing major at UWF, said that he was let down by the lack of detail in the speech.

"In general, I have been disappointed with Bush's performance as president," said Crabtree. "I voted for him the first time that he was in office, so I feel it is fair for me to say that he did not live up to my expectations."

Crabtree said that he feels Bush has acted irresponsibly with the economy.

When talking of the economy, Bush pointed out that America has created 4.6 million new jobs in the past two-and-a-half years, which is more than the European Union and Japan, combined.

Bush said, "The American economy is preeminent, but we cannot afford to be complacent."

The president said that the economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and invest, and the tax cuts are to expire in a few years. Bush urged Congress to "act responsibly and make the tax cuts permanent."

Shockey agrees with Bush and believes that it is not enough to have the tax cuts on a temporary basis.

"If you give more money back to every person in America through tax cuts, even the rich, they are going to put it back into the economy by spending it," Shockey said.  "It will help the nature of the people on a daily basis." 

Ten Brink said that he highly doubts that giving back $400 to $600 to the average American family will make a significant difference in the economy. 

"That little of money can break someone, but it rarely makes someone," Ten Brink said.  "Some families spend that money on groceries in one month.  It seems like Bush is just shifting money from social programs to give tax relief, but the local governments are paying the price."

In his State of the Unionaddress, Bush said that plans were in the making to have the federal deficit cut in half by 2009.

"I want to hear about how he is planning on cutting the deficit," said Crabtree.  "It was a very bold statement to make without giving any detail.  All the president said on the matter was that he was going to cut failed programs, but what programs?  What does he think has failed?" 

Shockey said that she believes there is a lot of money tied up in programs that aren't going anywhere or getting much done.

"I think that cutting these programs is sure to lessen our debt," Shockey said.

The president then expressed his concern that as the baby-boomers come into retirement, "unprecedented strains" will be placed on the federal government.   He asked that a commission be created to examine what will be done with the baby-boomers in respect to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and asked that partisan politics be put aside so that both parties can work together on the issue. 

Crabtree said that he does not think privatizing Social Security is the answer.

"I think that it is the government's responsibility to control Social Security," Crabtree said.  "If people turn 62 and lose their investments or don't make as great of retirement plans as they intended, then we are going to end up with more homeless people, and people who are on welfare in their old age."

Shockey disagrees, and believes that when we get older, Social Security will not exist. 

"If we invested in the way the president wants reform to happen, we would have much more money than if we used the current Social Security plan," Shockey said. 

Though many of Bush's opponents did not expect the president to bring up environmental issues, Bush said that we need affordable energy to be competitive with other countries and that, "America is addicted to oil."

Bush said that America has spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more affordable energy since 2001.  He announced that the Advanced Energy Initiative increased clean-energy research for the Department of Energy by 22 percent. 

Ten Brink said he thinks it is important that research is conducted by both public and private sectors, to assure there are no biases.

The president said that he wanted to have an ethanol alternative to petroleum-based fuels and that he hoped to replace our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by 75 percent.

Crabtree said that in America, it is not a question of whether or not the nation can come up with the technology to implement these changes, but more so, a question as to how America will send the message to people that it is a necessity to be environmentally sound and not just an option.

Shockey said that to do this very thing, the government is offering a one-time tax exemption for anyone to buy hybrid cars.

"It is a start," Shockey said.  "As it stands right now, the government is offering it only once, but they are trying to make it a yearly exemption for anyone who buys a hybrid."

As far as education goes, the president introduced the American Competitiveness Initiative, which aims to make hardworking ambitious students who are well trained in math and science. 

The first part of the initiative includes increasing funding for basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years; the second part involves making the research and development tax credit permanent; and the third part involves training 70,000 high school teachers to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science and bringing in 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms. 

"I think that Bush's education plan is realistic," Shockey said.  "If we want to be competitive against other countries that are innovative, then we need to educate our students at a higher level in order to have more competitive Americans in the work force."

Ten Brink said that though educating our students in math and science is important, he thinks that Bush is missing the mark.

"Rather than focusing on just math and science, we need a better funded education in all areas of study," Ten Brink said.  "Certain students have an aptitude toward math and science, and certain students do not.  We need to be building both mathematicians and people who are strong in business, civics and economics." 

Ten Brink said that the cost of public college went up 38 percent in Bush's first term as president and that we need to concentrate on making college more affordable for all kinds of students. 

The president also addressed the fact that many Hurricane Katrina victims felt abandoned by their government in the aftermath of the disaster.  He said that the government will stay committed to giving aid until those areas are back on their feet. 

Bush said that the federal government has committed $85 billion to the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.  He said that "beyond just temporary relief, we need to make schools that teach every child and job skills that bring upward mobility."

The president also urged the American people to continue supporting their troops and the fight against terrorist regimes.  He said, "The work in Iraq is difficult because our enemy is brutal."

Bush said that in less than three years, Iraq has gone from a dictatorship to liberation, to sovereignty, to a constitution, to national elections, and as America makes progress on the ground and Iraqi forces take a stronger lead, we will be able to decrease American troops in Iraq.

Bush said that decisions to decrease troops will be left to military commanders and not politicians. 

Ten Brink said that he feels Iraq cannot be called a sovereign nation until American occupation has ceded and the citizens of Iraq stand for democracy on their own two feet.

"I worry that we are forcing Iraq to be a democratic nation," Ten Brink said.  "We want to be sure that the lives Americans have lost are because the Iraqi people really want this.  If we leave Iraq and everything falls, then we have gotten nowhere."

Shockey said that as far as the fight on terrorism in America goes, there have been difficulties in finding a bipartisan answer.

"In order to better protect our borders, and keep terrorists from making it into our country, we need to increase spending," Shockey said.  "Every time the president wants to increase spending, the democrats get weary, but someone has got to bend."

Near the closing of his speech the president asked, "Will we turn back, or will we finish well?" 

Shockey said that opposing parties need to stop whining and complaining about the past in order for America to finish well.  She said that the government needs to concentrate on the positive changes that are being made and work from there.

"If we want to see our country move forward, we have to make some choices," Shockey said.  "Our country must start working together so that we can get things done."

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