For the president’s critics, the State of the Union was a boring disappointment, filled with half-truths and missed opportunities. He defended an indefensible policy in Iraq; he made ridiculous budget claims, he ignored Katrina reconstruction, and he unveiled awful (and largely rehashed) health care and energy policies. There wasn’t much to like.<\/p>\n
But as it turns out, Bush’s allies<\/i> were even less impressed. Here’s an item<\/a> that was sent to Focus on the Family’s membership yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for American Values, said the president aimed at the wrong target. <\/p>\n “Frankly, his speech was really a reaction to his critics and to the Democratic House and Senate leadership,” she said. “They are the ones who want to talk about global warming. They are the ones who want to say that Iraq is in a shambles. He lost a golden opportunity to set the stage — to describe the issues that were most important to the American people.” <\/p>\n Hamrick said Bush, who has two years left in the White House, was trying to be pragmatic but shouldn’t have leaned so far toward the liberals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes, the GOP base thought the State of the Union was geared towards the left<\/i>.<\/p>\n In fact, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins unveiled a YouTube video<\/a> blasting Bush for his misguided priorities.<\/p>\n “This call to strengthen our union is inseparable from the need to strengthen the American family and the culture in which we raise our children,” Perkins said. “I applaud the president’s leadership as he refused to surrender his role as commander in chief to the new majority, and take the fight to a determined enemy. However, that same clear and concise determination to defend the culture of America here was missing. I believe the president failed in challenging the new majority to join him in addressing core family and cultural issues…. The president failed to draw a line in the sand on behalf of life.”<\/p>\n