Participants include, Mi Familia president Valentina Daly, Joe Putnam of the College Democrats, Mycah Wilson of the Afrikan American Student Advisory Council, John Tart a CALS senator and James Hankins a CHASS Senator.
What were your general impressions of President Bush and what he had to say?
VD: I got the impression that he was really nervous to face a large audience that disapproves of him. He was really shy and tried to sugarcoat everything and make sure not to say anything that could potentially offend people.
JP: His audacity surprised even me. I was surprised by even after such a resounding statement that he needs to change his policy in Iraq that he would go up there before us today and say that he’ll essentially stay the course. There’s really no tactical difference between this current troop surge and Operation Together Forward, which was a miserable failure a few months back and several other operations to secure Iraq.
MW: I agree with everything Valentina said — you could see how nervous he was by his face. He said all the things we wanted to hear but not the sound solutions to get us there — it was kind of the same old thing.
JT: I think as big of an opportunity as he had to appeal to as many people and to see what his next move is going to be, he missed it. He could have really leaped forward and go forward with those plans and do a total assessment of where we are and where he thinks we need to be. But all he really did was a recap of what he’s done, not what he can do.
JH: The comfort level from the economic issues to the foreign policy issues changed completely. He responds well to favorable opinions, and when people show any kind of favorability to what he said, he kind of perked up. He actually spoke better when he thought people were agreeing with what he said. I felt like the situation where he introduced people at the very end of the speech, that’s fantastic, but he could have incorporated that through the whole speech and talked about one person, told they’re story and then go into how his policy reflects their heroism as Americans.
VD: I got the sense that the people he described felt kind of separate from what he has done in America and in the foreign world.
JP: I found it quite amusing that he brought those great Americans up there because it threw even more into contrast his own failure as a citizen of this country, back when he was younger to not serve in combat in a war he supported. It makes one think that he’s not the kind of person who would do those heroic things.
What are your thoughts on his immigration plans and his proposed increases in border control?
JP: One of the reasons our borders are not secure is that we simply don’t have the manpower with thousands of trooped bogged down in the quagmire in Iraq. If he was able to fund social programs, perhaps immigration wouldn’t have been as much of a problem. I agree with him that our immigration policy is broken and we need to change it, but it’s not going to dissuade everyone in Mexico from coming here, simply because we put more people along the border. We need to reform so that more can come through legally and become citizens.
VD: He said that we needed to increase border security and patrol and also to allow those people to come in and to help them come in and to leave the convicted felons and drug smugglers out. So the only way we’re going to be able to do this is if we have a new immigration policy. But if we take people out of Iraq and to our border, then I don’t see it possible to do both. But everything he did say about immigration I agree with, but he still seemed to be sugarcoating it.
JH: The policy itself and its presentation was so middle of the road that you could feel from the audience the response was tepid. It was just kind of like “OK, that’s kind of what I want.” Each side seemed to have problems with it and each seemed to agree with parts of it. It was probably the most tepid part of the whole speech.
JT: He didn’t say anything about the people that are here now, how to get them back over there that are illegally here. Or help them become citizens now and become tax-paying citizens as part of this melting pot. Being from the agricultural side, farmers are not going to want to send immigrants back because they’re paying them such low wages now, that it’s a lot cheaper to keep them here.
The new Democratic Congress passed a cut on student loan interest rates, but the president talked little of education. What do you think of what he said dealing with education?
VD: I was looking for what the Democrats proposed on the financial aid interest cut. He kind of mentioned No Child Left Behind, but again I felt it was just too sugarcoated. He didn’t want to piss anyone off.
MW: I want to know what he’s going to do with all of the schools that are on the verge of being shut down because they’re backwards. So now students can go to schools of their choice, but they’re going to be crowded. His thought process on these things just doesn’t flow.
JT: Like I said earlier, he missed the opportunity and just kind of sat on the fence. I know a lot of teachers are opposed to No Child Left Behind and I don’t think it’s going to be in his hands in the future. It’s going to be left to the House and Senate.
JP: If I were him, I certainly would not have mentioned No Child Left Behind because it’s a big failure of his. He hasn’t funded 10 percent of what needs to be funded. His vice president broke a tie cutting student aid by millions of dollars, and as college students we should all take heed, that we’re going to be paying more for college because of this administration.
The president mentioned a volunteer civilian reserve core for the military. Can this work?
JH: John F. Kennedy started the Peace Corps. And now we’re starting a civilian reserve corps — a War Corps. It’s interesting to me that those comparisons will be made. I don’t know what it is, but who would want to do that? It’s very confusing as to what this is. But when he said it, I thought it was the most interesting thing he’s said his whole speech.
JT: The idea is good because it enables people that don’t want to go into the military or have that contractual agreement to be in the military to help out here at home funded by the government. But it was a process he didn’t hit on. Maybe he’ll leave it open to the Cabinet, but the idea seems good for people that want to see progress made.
