Ask a Bush

There's this commerical from the liberal September Fund I saw where a bunch of liberals are asking a bush silly questions. Then at the end a voiceover says, "OK, it's kind of ridiculous to think you're ever going to get an answer out of this bush, but it's also kind of ridiculous to think you're ever going to get an answer out of this one," with the latter phrase spoken over a picture of the President. Then a caption, "Demand answers. Vote for change."

Well, as a public service, I'll provide those answers here.

• So what's our exit strategy from Iraq?

  Simple: as soon as the Iraqi security forces are able to maintain a reaosnable level of stability without our military, we will leave.

• Why do our soldiers have to keep dying?

  Not to be glib, but that's what happens in war. Perhaps you mean, why do we have to be over there in the first place? Most simply, because as a country we decided that this was the proper course to take. Yes, some of that was based on evidence that turned out to be false, as best we can now tell, but there were many reasons to go in, and most of the reasons -- Iraq's support of terrorism, instability of the region, UN violations, and so on -- were entirely true.

• What about affordable health care?

  What about it? Do you mean you want the government to solve the problem of skyrocketing health costs? This is a problem that government cannot really solve, except to get out of the way of private business so competition can drive down costs ... something the Democrats work hard to prevent.

• Can't we support stem cell research?

  We do. Do you mean, can't we support embryonic stem cell research more? Because otherwise, your question is apparently deceptive, as it implies we do not support stem cell research (we do), or that we do not support embyronic stem cell research (we do). And the answer is, sure, we can support it more than we do. But many of us believe that embryonic stem cell research has serious moral problems. Many of you think the war has serious moral problems, and get upset when people dismiss your views (and indeed, many of you think that your moral concerns trump everything else, and that anyone who disagrees with you is immoral); so why do you think it is acceptable to dismiss others' moral views about embryonic stem cell research? The bottom line is that many of us think it's wrong, and that our government therefore should not fund it. Feel free to disagree, but to dismiss the view as legitimate is fundamentally dishonest.

• Why did we let down Katrina victims?

  Frankly, we didn't. It's politically incorrect to say so, but it's true. We did let down American taxpayers by wasting a lot of money in the rush to help Katrina victims, but we've provided an unprecedented amount of aid to Katrina victims. While the rescue efforts were slow to materialize, there were no widespread long-term problems caused by it other than hurt feelings. Sure, people are still recovering, and in many cases aid has been cut off, but refusing to hold someone's hand for over a year when they should by now be taking care of themselves is not "letting them down."

• Why won't Congress do anything?

  It does a lot. Too much, maybe.

• Pass a decent minimum wage?

  That the federal government does not increase the minimum wage is irrelevant: each state is capable of increasing their own. If you think it's too low, then increase it for yourselves. The federal minimum wage is, quite literally, unconstitutional to begin with. This is a state responsibility.

• Why are we losing so many jobs to overseas?

  Essentially, we're not. We "insource" millions of jobs, and "outsource" many of jobs. The jobless rate has decreased significantly, as employment has increased, over the past few years. The nation's economy has become a lot more dynamic, and it is becoming harder for more traditional workers to find employment, but just looking at "jobs lost" overseas is an incomplete picture, because it doesn't take into account not only the jobs we are "insourcing," but also the benefits to cost of living that come with the "oursourcing."

There. So no more complaining about not getting answers.