Washington –U.S. Senator Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ), who attended the Presidential Inauguration and swearing in ceremony today, released the following statement following President Bush’s address to the nation.
“We all join the President in fighting for the cause of freedom, human rights and liberty both at home and abroad. Freedom is our most fiercely held value as a nation, and I agree with the President that it is the cause of our time. The President’s philosophical framing of America’s fundamental embrace of freedom was important. The President failed, however, to lay out the specific sacrifices Americans will face in the days and years ahead.
“In fact, in a seventeen minute address that ran more than 2,000 words, the President used the word sacrifice but once.
“After the loss of almost 1,400 soldiers in Iraq and with the cost of war soon to exceed $200 billion, the people of New Jersey and the nation want to know what more is expected of them and what sacrifices they will have to make. The families of New Jersey’s active duty service members, National Guard and Reserves want to know how much more sacrifice is expected of them and their loved ones serving overseas. The brave men and women defending our freedoms are serving selflessly and are owed our highest admiration and support. They are also owed a realistic assessment from the President of the road and sacrifices ahead.
“Americans want to know how the President will repair relations with our allies so they can share the burden of rebuilding Iraq and advancing freedom around the globe. They expected to hear a commitment to our homeland security and to our firefighters, cops and other first responders who defend us every day. And they want to know that the intelligence failures of 9/11 and the war in Iraq will be corrected. The President was silent on these issues today.
“I stand ready to work with President Bush to achieve great things for our nation and New Jersey. We confront great challenges both at home and abroad. The President had an opportunity today to be straight with the American people about the long road ahead and the sacrifices they will be asked to make. In that respect, his remarks fell short of the mark.