Bush makes some smart proposals...

Much of Bush's State of the Union speech was what we've come to expect - monotonous defenses of the Iraq war and the administration's illegal domestic spying. But when he started talking about specific policies, he said some very encouraging things. Gone were massive pie-in-the-sky boondoggles like Social Security privatization. And what replaced them?

Sensible policies for boosting American strength in science.

I've often criticized Bush (and Republicans in general) for being anti-science; denial of global warming, stem cell bans, "Intelligent Design", etc. But take a look at some of the proposals Bush put forward today:

* double funding for research in physical sciences in the next decade

* more money for math and science education

* train 70,000 new high school AP math and science teachers

* hire 30,000 scientists and engineers as teachers

* creat and extend tax breaks for research and development

* increasing funding for research into alternative fuels, such as ethanol

* more research on batteries for hybrid and electric cars

* replacing "more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025"

* weaning America off of its "addiction to oil"

* reinstating the line-item veto to control pork spending


Damn. Double damn. I agree wholeheartedly with every one of those proposals. More importantly, they look like things that might actually get done.

Can this be happening? Bush comes out with domestic policies that seem smart, forward-looking, and feasible? The answer, it seems, is yes. And media sources from Business Week and the Financial Times to the left-leaning Guardian agree with me. And no one can call me a traitor to the liberal cause, because these proposals have won lots of bipartisan support - thought the inadequate scope of Bush's energy proposals and his glaring omission of fuel economy stardards shouldn't be overlooked. But there were some good ideas in there, for once. Now let's wait and find out if any of these good ideas actually get implemented.

And in the meantime, let's not forget that it's Bush's "security" policies - domestic spying, torture, alienation of our allies, and curtailing of civil liberties - that have made him a bad president so far. Boosting science is a great idea, and it's something that needs to be done, but it doesn't change the fact that Bush has a dangerous disregard for American values...