January 20, 2004 - It is the third anniversary of George W. Bush’s inauguration as President of the United States. American deaths in the 10 months of the Second Iraqi War reached 502 today. The toll of America’s war in Afghanistan stood at 100. The military casualties America has suffered in the three years of the Bush Administration are almost twice the number suffered in Vietnam during the first three years of America’s involvement.

It is the third anniversary of George W. Bush’s inauguration as President of the United States. More than 2.4 million jobs have evaporated during the first three years of the Bush Administration. By any rationale forecast in November George W. Bush will be the first President since Herbert Hoover to face re-election while the number of Americans with jobs are fewer than those who were working when he took the oath of office.

It is the third anniversary of the Republican resurgence that gave them control of the three branches of Federal government. For three years the GOP has had absolute control of the reins of Federal power. With absolute power came absolute responsibility. After three years of unchecked power it is the Republican Party that has the unavoidable responsibility for the State of the Union.

For the past few days the President has been consumed with rehearsing his State of the Union Address while the administration leaks out the details of his program for this election year. The official photographs of his rehearsals show us a less than confident performer with an expression of dismay on his face shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other. Defending a Republican record that includes squandering the record budget surpluses it inherited on tax gifts for its patrons and pork barrel spending unrestrained by the unused veto pen is a daunting task.

It is a message that will be well salted with appeals to fear. It will call for even more growth in the power of the Federal government; more spending to impose limits on American liberty in the name of security; more intrusions into the lives of the citizens. It will ignore, as the first three years of the Bush administration has ignored, the fact that the terrorist attacks around the world continue while Al Qaida and the Taliban operate from a new safe haven in the mountains of Pakistan. It is a message that will call for more trickle-down voodoo claiming that it will create jobs. It will not address the continuing stream of manufacturing and technical jobs flowing overseas.

The State of the Union will outline the Republican campaign plan. It will set the tone for the coming ten months. It won’t be an appeal to confidence and hope. It will be a message targeted at the most basic of human emotions – fear and greed.