|
Web
Exclusives: Comparative Life February13,
2002: By Kristen Albertsen '02 You know you're a senior when President Bush's January 29th State of the Union address counts as a study break (or, more accurately, as a thesis-break). That Tuesday evening, a few friends and I gathered in a cozily lit dorm room, bleary-eyed and blinking after having spent hours in our dim and dusty B- and C-floor thesis carrels. We collapsed on couches and futons and turned to face Tom Brokaw, who seemed to loom on the television screen. When the camera panned to the Chamber of the House of Representatives, however, we experienced a rush of college-age political energy, and began cat-calling members of Congress and the state department alike. We noted Vice-President Cheney's surprise cameo and Condoleezza Rice's conspicuous absence; apparently the two had traded places in the top-secret state-of-the-art underground bunker for the evening. We critiqued the First Lady's patriotic red dress and the President's baby-blue tie. As the boisterous clapping subsided, another friend burst into the room, waving a sheet of paper. "Look what I found on the Web!" he cried (obviously a junior, for what senior has time to surf the web?). "It's a drinking game made especially for Bush's address!" This news flash was greeted by a round of cheers that easily drowned out those on screen. "Listen to this. Every time he mentions education, take one drink; evil, take two; and if he says, "Don't mess with Texas," then you have to chug your beer and crush the can on your head. Let's break 'em out!" We distributed beers to everyone present and settled down to watch the speech. Most of us there were liberal Democrats, and so the alcohol served less to lighten the mood than to drown our growing concerns for our country as the speech progressed. Certainly Bush proposed many things of which we approved: increased pay for policemen, firefighters, and the military, and a renewed commitment to Social Security and Medicare. However, we found his vague call for domestic vigilance disconcertingly ominous, his indiscriminate pledging of money absurdly idealistic, and his demand for increased an self-sufficiency in natural resources - tantamount to a mandate to drill in Alaska - downright despicable. Certain glaring omissions, such as Enron or a discussion of education beyond the empty statement that it would improve, nettled us, and aspects of his delivery - sneering at the Democrats, for example, or mispronouncing a heroic stewardess's name - made matters worse. Some things never failed to make us smile: the camera's occasional pan to Senator Clinton or, more seriously, the sincere love and support of the audience for America and American values. Alcohol aside, it was a speech received with anxiety and guarded hope, with distrust but also with profound respect. It requires from our President a vast amount of strength even to make a speech at a time like this, much less stand behind what is said. And from us it requires courage and care to make informed and discerning choices based upon personal and national values. To put aside partisan differences, selfish motivations, and theses, and to come together as a nation, at least for an hour. So in the end, I suppose we toasted to you, America. Cheers, and God bless.
You can reach Kristen at albertsn@princeton.edu For a report on the drinking game in the Chronicle of Higher Education,
click
here.
|
