Senator Webb Responds to the President

Please, read the full text of Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union address, as delivered by Senator Jim Webb of Virginia.



Elections do matter, they do have consequences. The people of Virginia turned away from a rubber stamp Republican named Senator George Allen to a Democrat. Senator Jim Webb delivered the Democratic message with a passionate appeal to bring back economic equality to all Americans and to change the course of President Bush failed Iraq policies.

There are two areas where our respective parties have largely stood in contradiction, and I want to take a few minutes to address them tonight. The first relates to how we see the health of our economy, how we measure it, and how we ensure that its benefits are properly shared among all Americans. The second regards our foreign policy, how we might bring the war in Iraq to a proper conclusion that will also allow us to continue to fight the war against international terrorism, and to address other strategic concerns that our country faces around the world.

When one looks at the health of our economy, it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day. [..]

As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. "When comes the end?" asked the general, who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became president, he brought the Korean War to an end.

These presidents took the right kind of action, for the benefit of the American people and for the health of our relations around the world. Tonight, we are calling on this president to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.