While the Democrats desperately search for a worthy opponent to President Bush, the State of the Union address made it clear that the American people have already found their leader. That leader is George W. Bush. As for the Democrats – well, I think the priggish expressions of the paradigm of morality, Sen. Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy, that were on full display throughout the address speak for themselves.

In the State of the Union, President Bush again devoted himself to renewing this country’s sense of moral purpose and direction, providing a welcome relief from the insufferable political invective – recall Dean’s infamous “yaaaaah!” – that has defined the Democratic primaries thus far. Most importantly, however, he solidified his record on national security and the war on terrorism. On these issues, which will surely be the most important of 2004, Republicans can now say “case closed.”

Some said Bush was a “unilateralist cowboy” obsessed with fulfilling narrow, imperialistic goals regardless of international law. On the contrary, the Iraqi war was anything but a unilateral endeavor. In fact, Bush gave us a list of almost 35 nations who supported our military action in Iraq. He made it clear that the real unilateralists are France and Germany, in their opposition to the United States.

Others claim that Republicans don’t care about the United Nations or other ineffective vanguards of the world order. Wrong again. It was George W. Bush who finally legitimized the then-meaningless words of the United Nations, by forcing mass murderer Saddam Hussein to comply with the international mandates he had systematically defied for more than a decade. Bush said it best: “Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats … encouraging defiance by dictators around the world.”

And by the way, I caution all those who claim that because weapons of mass destruction have not yet been fully recovered in Iraq – a country the size of California – the entire operation is somehow illegitimate, constituting a deliberate “exaggeration” by Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, et al. In his address, Bush spoke of “weapons of mass destruction-related program activities.” that have already been discovered. Undoubtedly, such findings are only the beginning, for everyone from Hans Blix to Bill Clinton agreed that Saddam possessed WMDs. Even if actual nuclear weapons are never found, under the guidelines set in place by U.N. Resolution 1441, we are already completely justified in having utilized military force in Iraq. Indeed, David Kay’s recent weapons inspections in the country have yielded conclusive results that place Saddam Hussein in clear material breach of Resolution 1441, an explicit cause for military action according to the resolution’s measures.

As Ted Kennedy rolls his eye, shrugs his shoulders and flirts with nausea, he strengthens Bush’s message better then any brilliant speech ever could. His disgraceful antics remind Americans that conservative Republicans are the real, visionary leaders in this country. Case closed, Ted.

-The writer, a freshman majoring in political science, is a Hatchet columnist.