The Hindu Business Line : Well done, Mr Bush

The impressive assemblage consists of not only the 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 Senators, but the entire Cabinet, the Justices of the Supreme Court and the top Defence brass, besides family members and invitees from all walks of life in public galleries.

As a collective obeisance paid to democracy and the will of the people by the chief executive and the elected representatives it has few parallels.

On public display at such times is the immense respect to the principle of accountability to the people to whom the chief executive of the most powerful and scientifically advanced nation dutifully presents his report card and unfolds the Administration's future agenda.

How insipid do Indian Presidents' addresses to Parliament seem in comparison!

The Address by Mr George Bush on February 2 this year roused keen interest for being his first after his re-election. He rose to the occasion in terms of both matter and manner, as evidenced by the standing ovation he received almost for every alternate sentence throughout his hour-long speech.

In fact, the clapping was so frequent — even in the midst of a sentence — as to remind me of the method sometimes adopted by students to express their impatience with a boring speaker!

He took head-on the contentious social security issue, braving the loud "No"s from a section — presumably the Democrats — of the audience.

I thought he made out a strong and convincing case for revamping a system which, after 70 years of its operation, has reached a state of financial breakdown.

It had also become a holy cow which vested interests would not allow any Administration to touch. It is to the credit of Mr Bush that he is determined to introduce the sorely-needed corrective measures.

His tribute to the people of Iraq for participating in the election despite terrorist attempts to disrupt it was as well-deserved as his stern warning to Syria, Iran and North Korea against harbouring terrorists and his call to the Muslim countries of West Asia to turn away from tyrannical modes of government and take to the path of democracy.

Well done, Mr Bush!

B. S. Raghavan

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