The 2008 State of the Empire Address

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Do we remember "As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our Union has never been stronger"? That was 2002. Emperor Bush was at war because he'd transformed a police investigation into a strategic bombing spree. I'd much rather have had a police investigation instead. "The civilized world faces unprecedented dangers"? So, if it comes to that, did the uncivilized world: the unprecedented danger of Manifest Destiny played out across the globe. Shock and Awe, or what we used to call Blitzkrieg in less circumspect days. And then the drip-drip propaganda lie - "the state of our Union has never been stronger". Say it often enough and it has to be true.

Next slide please.

2003. "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa". Hadn't Joseph Wilson gone to Niger to investigate that claim for the US government and found convincing evidence it was a forgery? You remember Joseph Wilson? Valerie Plame's husband? The whole set of WMD claims was bogus, all that mattered was getting the US public onside with the Forces of Righteousness even if it did involve lying by omission. Yes, the British government has learned. The British government and the CIA both knew that the allegation was false but "the British government has learned" is ambiguous enough to weasel out of having outright told the country on camera that it was true.

2004 was famous for "Last January, Iraq's only law was the whim of one brutal man" with the unstated corollary "Today, Iraq's only law is the whim of different and far less competent brutal men in Washington". Oh, and "the people of Iraq are free", that was your other staggeringly inept comment.

2005 had a farcical tone in retrospect. "Tonight, [being placed in office by the votes of the people we serve] is a privilege we share with newly-elected leaders of Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and a free and sovereign Iraq". The benefit brought by this US-imposed privilege is scarcely evident on the streets of Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq even now - and don't I recall that Hamas won the following year's election in Palestine? And didn't the US refuse to talk to them ever after despite Hamas being placed in office by the votes of the people they serve? Maybe freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose after all. How did the speech end up? "Let us do what Americans have always done, and build a better world for our children and our grandchildren"? By all means, Emperor Bush, so long as you build it in the US Homeland - that bit of the planet which you actually own - and not in my back yard which you don't.

In 2006 I actually mis-heard your "allowing the violent to inherit the Earth" as a policy statement. I blinked and thought you were being even more brazen than usual.

2007 was startling too - "to win the War on Terror, we must take the fight to the enemy"? What was the previous six years about, for goodness' sake? You're just finding first gear on your stick-shift after six years? And did you remember to mention New Orleans as relevant to the State of the Empire, or has my hearing failed. No, I thought not.

Which brings us to this week, 2008. "At kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future". Well, if you will go emasculating your middle class financially in order to profit your super-rich then you can expect that sort of consequence. Who's going to consume if you've held down wages and everyone's finally run out of credit?

"The advance of liberty is opposed by terrorists and extremists - evil men who despise freedom, despise America and aim to subject millions to their violent rule". Not just by terrorists and extremists, please - it's opposed by me too and I'm neither, I'm just your common or garden socialist who dislikes your notion of a Manifest Destiny to rule the planet. Or is that extreme of me?

"Our message to the people of Iran is clear: we have no quarrel with you, we respect your traditions and your history, and we look forward to the day when you have your freedom". Perhaps you should check your email more often, you might have been chain-mailed a hefty lack of respect for traditions that's doing the rounds.

"Illegal immigration is complicated, but it can be resolved"? That's it? You actually have a solution? Get on with it then!

"Let us complete an international agreement that has the potential to slow, stop and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases"... Hold on! Hold it right there. Rewind! You want to eventually reverse the GROWTH of greenhouse gases? You're not even considering the possibility that you might want to reverse the LEVEL of greenhouse gases? You just want to eventually tail off a touch on the rate at which the greenhouse gases are increasing? My goodness you people have a long way to progress before you catch up with reality. While you're at it, we don't want this agreement to "have the potential to", we want it to do it.