Call Me Al

‘NONE of the papers could be bothered to wait up to hear President Bush’s third – and, we hope, final – State Of The Union address last night.

‘What’s one plus one, Mr President?’

But they were not the only ones treating themselves to a good night’s sleep because Bush is apparently not going to lose any shut-eye over John Kerry’s victory in the first Democratic primary in Iowa.

That is the verdict of the Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland, who says Kerry has ‘a bad case of the Al Gore syndrome’. In other words, he is dull.

Bush, meanwhile, intends to present himself as the man who stood strong after the 9/11 attacks – ironic, you might argue given that his first response was to run very fast in the opposite direction.

‘Add the images of Saddam in captivity and Bush serving Thanksgiving turkey to the troops,’ Freedland says, ‘plus a plan to turn illegal immigrants into voters and a dream of another moon landing, and you have a man who will be very hard to beat.’

Not to mention the President’s plan announced last night to set aside $120m to help Americans gain the skills to find good jobs in our new economy’.

Having presided over the loss of 2.3m jobs in only three years, Bush’s generosity equates to just under £30 a person.

That should easily be enough to train someone to flip burgers for a living…’

Posted: 21st, January 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink