by Yujia Song

In his response to President Bush’s State of Union address, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine criticized the federal administration’s “poor choices and bad management,” citing bipartisan efforts in Virginia as a “better way” to serve the people.

“The better way is to focus on service. It's about measuring what we do in terms of real results for real people. It's not about partisanship or political spin,” stressed Kaine, who delivered his speech from the Executive Mansion in Richmond on Jan. 31.

This is exactly what Virginia has been doing, said Kaine. Republicans and Democrats have worked together to tackle budget reform, enhance school performance and improve the health care system. “It's all about bringing people together to find common-sense solutions to our common problems,” he said. “That's how Virginia earned the ranking of America's ‘Best Managed State.’”

Skeptical of Bush’s plans to reduce the federal expenditure by $14 billion next year, Kaine pointed out the administration’s repeated failures in keeping the national debt in check. “Over the past five years, we've gone from huge surpluses to massive deficits,” he said.

In Virginia, however, “we were able to keep the budget balanced,” Kaine said. He attributed the success to combined efforts of Republicans and Democrats in pushing for the budget reform two years ago.

When it came to education, Kaine dismissed Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act as an underfunded program “wreaking havoc on local school districts across the nation.”

“Despite the insistence of Democrats in Congress that this program should be funded as promised, the administration has opposed that funding and is refusing to let states try innovative alternatives,” he said.

In contrast, Virginia has made “record investments” in education, Kaine said. The number of accredited schools continues to rise, along with test scores.

The administration’s management of Medicaid did not escape Gov. Kaine’s criticism either. He blamed the White House for failing to provide reliable and affordable services for seniors. “Health-care reforms must focus on making the system serve consumers better,” he said. Again, he used Virginia as an example: “We have worked to provide health insurance coverage for nearly 140,000 children who weren't covered four years ago.”

He also touched on issues including the war on terror, the administration’s immigration policy and its plans to save energy through innovation.

Kaine was chosen by the party to deliver the Democratic response less than three weeks after he became the governor of Virginia, a state predominantly Republican.

Local reactions to the President's address

State of the Union address

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd