Some tough questions for President Bush

During the course of his re-election campaign, George W. Bush has appeared at a series of "Ask President Bush" events across the country. With his collar open and his sleeves rolled up, he answers the "questions" of supporters, such as, "I just want to say I'm praying for you, and God bless you," an actual example from one session in my home state of Wisconsin. While we shouldn't expect hard-hitting, district attorney-style cross-examination from such crowds, these questions rarely venture beyond inquiries as to how the supporter can help win the president a second term.

President Bush's notorious avoidance of press conferences means that even the media have difficulty getting straight answers from this administration. However, this Friday in St. Louis, something approximating real people will be asking both candidates questions in the second of three presidential debates. And they won't even have to sign loyalty oaths.

Not all of us can be in Missouri to ask the president questions, and I'm not exactly an undecided voter. But that said, I propose ten sincere and serious questions of my own, questions to which many of us would like answers before casting our votes in November:

Mr. President, with nine out of 10 Army divisions already deployed in, heading to or returning from Iraq, and with the emergence of actual threats in Iran and North Korea, how will you maintain your doctrine of preventative war against foreign powers seeking nuclear capability without enacting a new military draft in this country?

Mr. President, the Pentagon has reported that not only is global warming real, but that it is a national security threat. Why, then, have you abandoned your 2000 campaign promise to cut carbon dioxide pollution, and instead proposed the emissions-promoting "Clear Skies" initiative? And if you thought the Kyoto Protocol let nations like China and India off the hook, why didn't you return to the negotiating table to get a better treaty?

Mr. President, your secretary of defense suggested, with a growing insurgency in Iraq and with some regions now considered "no-go zones," that only three-fourths of the country may be safe enough to hold elections, meaning even Baghdad may not be allowed to vote. How will such elections and any national government that results be seen as legitimate in the eyes of the Iraqi people, and wouldn't disenfranchising the regions that most oppose the U.S.-installed government only divide the country more deeply?

Mr. President, in your acceptance speech, you promised to increase the funding for Pell grants to help students pay for college education, which many of my generation, myself included, find quite appealing. But you also promised the same thing in the 2000 campaign, and since then, tuition costs have skyrocketed, while you still haven't increased Pell grants to the level pledged in 2000, so why should we trust you this time?

Mr. President, I generally support free trade as a means for economic growth, but what I see happening now is that when jobs are outsourced overseas, the additional profit isn't creating new jobs at home, but is fueling the steady, exponential growth in CEO pay and widening the gap between rich and poor in our nation. What do you say to the American worker who lost his job while his company's executives got pay raises?

Mr. President, given that you thought so highly of the social institution of marriage earlier in your term that you proposed monetary incentives to marriage, why would you oppose the right of two loving individuals who happen to be gay to marry and raise a family?

Mr. President, you argue the best way to handle North Korea, which we know has nuclear weapons, is through multilateral diplomacy. Why, then, did you judge it best to handle Iraq, an enemy who we at best suspected might have nuclear capability, by invading unilaterally?

Mr. President, how will you enact the new spending programs that you proposed in your nomination acceptance speech and make your tax cuts permanent without leaving my generation massive budget deficits?

Mr. President, why did you propose cutting the pay of soldiers at the same time as your administration gave large, no-bid contracts to Halliburton? Why are Halliburton truck drivers making more money than our soldiers in Iraq?

Mr. President, why haven't you fully funded No Child Left Behind?

If you're a journalist, please ask these questions. If you are at the debate Friday, please ask these questions. If you're the Democratic nominee for president, please ask these questions. Even if you're a loyalty oath-signing Republican, please ask these questions.

We the people need to know not only how President Bush will clean up the military and fiscal morasses seen during his administration, but also why he made the decisions that he did. We need to know because a president must not only be decisive, but must exercise wise judgment. And we need to know because, if a president does not act wisely, we too have our chance to exercise judgment -- every four years.

Kevin Collins is a junior Political Science major from Milwaukee. ...And Justice For All appears on Tuesdays.

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