Bush address met with criticism, lack of interest

By Jack Gillum

Students reacted to President Bush's State of the Union address with apathy or disdain here this week, some claiming they were too busy or little impressed with the president's attention to domestic issues and not satisfied with answers regarding Iraq.

"I have too much homework, and I would have argued with my roommate," sophomore Bradford Mills said, who criticizes the president on the recent U.S.-led war that ousted former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Mills, who studies environmental science and is critical of Bush's environmental policies, was concerned with the president's proposals to drill for oil in Alaska and afraid that federal clean air standards may be curtailed under his administration.

But Anthony Ledonne, who has shifted his political opinions since coming to college and would vote to re-elect Bush, was impressed by the president's political persuasion Tuesday night.

"He played politics well," Ledonne said, but thought the president focused too much on Iraq.

Junior Lauren Bilnoski echoed Ledonne's praise, but didn't think the president adequately addressed pressing criticism on Iraq. "He could have done a better job," she said.

The president spent considerable time discussing the recent war on terrorism and Iraq, echoing that dangers posed by terrorists have not subsided. The president systematically responded to domestic issues, including the economy, tax cuts and his administration's No Child Left Behind Act, which aims to seek accountability in public schools.

"Americans are proving once again to be the hardest working people in the world. The American economy is growing stronger. That tax relief you passed is working," Bush said near the start of his speech.

The president, in a push to court more conservative voters, aimed to preserve marriage between heterosexual partners and hinted at the proposition of a constitutional amendment â€" an "alternative," he claimed, to the rulings of "activist" judges.

"Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage," Bush said.

Sophomore Ben Cook, a supporter of the president and an admirer of his leadership since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, however, took aim at the lack of a solid case behind the president's push to oppose homosexual unions.

"There's not much justification. He needed to explain it more," Cook said.

Presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a leading frontrunner since the recent Iowa Caucus, took aim at Bush's domestic health care policy on NBC's Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. "His health care plan doesn't do the job for America," Kerry said.

û Contact Jack Gillum at (408) 554-4849 or jgillum@scu.edu.