Bush:We must keep our word (would you believe this man)

[papau]

Compare Bush's call for the United States to end its addiction to oil to Barry Bonds calling for an end to steroid use. :-)


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/02/01/MNGHHH0QTP1.DTL
BUSH: 'WE MUST KEEP OUR WORD'
ANALYSIS: New note sounded -- an appeal for harmony
Marc Sandalow, Washington Bureau Chief

Wednesday, February 1, 2006


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Washington -- President Bush's call for Republicans and Democrats to work together, for America to engage the world and for the nation to quit its addiction to oil will sound to many skeptics like Barry Bonds calling for an end to steroid use in baseball.

It was not Bush's failure to solve these problems over the course of the first five years of his presidency that required him to highlight them in his State of the Union address, his critics insist; it was Bush's contributions to these problems that elevated each to a matter of significance.

For Bush to convince an increasingly skeptical public that it should embrace his vision for the nation -- and his agenda for the rest of his presidency -- and to dig his way out from his weak standing in the polls, he will need to demonstrate that his soothing rhetoric is more than just words. Partisanship, stormy international relations and heavy oil consumption have been hallmarks of Bush's tenure thus far. <snip>

"There is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure,'' Bush said. <snip>

It was Bush's insistence in waging a war in Iraq without United Nation's backing and the U.S. abrupt withdrawal from treaties on global warming, land mines and international justice that prompted international criticism of the administration's unilateralism. <snip>

And last year, the administration threatened to veto a Senate energy bill that called for a much less significant reduction in oil consumption -- albeit over a longer period of time -- than Bush called for on Tuesday night.

[papau]

1. But David Yepsen likes various points made in speech

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/OPINION01/60131021/1035/OPINION

Yepsen: In saluting high-minded ideals, Bush plays good politics

By DAVID YEPSEN
REGISTER POLITICAL COLUMNIST
February 1, 2006

He hit many of the right notes by:

• Positioning America as a bulwark in the cause of freedom. Bush reminded his audiences of the sweep of U.S. history and how previous generations didn't quit in the midst of the Civil War, the civil-rights struggles or the Cold War against communism. He vowed not to do the same in the war in Iraq or the war on terrorism — two fronts in the conflict with what he called "radical Islam."

"We love our freedom and we will fight to keep it," he said. "The U.S. will not retreat from the world and we will never surrender to evil." American presidents are always at their best when they talk about the high-minded role the nation seeks in helping the world, and Bush was at his best in this speech when he did that.

• Seeking to steel the nation's resolve in fighting the war in Iraq and in other fronts of the war on terrorism. He said he welcomed constructive criticism of the war effort but that there would be no early departures. "Our work in Iraq is difficult because our enemy is brutal" and "we are in this fight to win and we are winning." He also said the nation faces a "long war against determined enemies."

• Telling Americans the nation's future does not rest with isolationist or protectionist policies. Instead, he said the nation's economic future lies with improving education to make students more competitive with their peers in other nations, particularly in math and science.

• Signaling to Iranians that the United States and the world would not allow Iran's government to obtain nuclear weapons. He invited the Iranian people to pursue a peaceful future.

• Urging renewal of the Patriot Act. Renewal is bogged down as Congress quibbles over civil-liberties questions. Had the law been in place before 9/11, Bush said, it might have helped law enforcement "connect the dots" that pointed to the coming assault. He said if people in the United States want to talk to terrorists, "we will not sit back and wait to be hit again."

• Pushing for alternative energy and renewable fuels as a way to "make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past."

[papau]

2. While Sanger sees "Bold Visions Have Given Way to New Reality "

The President's agenda is "far less ambitious" and his options as "far more limited than they were a year ago."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/politics/01assess.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

February 1, 2006
News Analysis

Bold Visions Have Given Way to New Reality

By DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 — <snip>A president who has rarely dwelled on the impact of globalization for American workers was suddenly looking over his shoulder at China and India, and committing the federal government to a quest for 70,000 teachers and 30,000 scientists to prepare American students for a new era of competition.

It was, in short, a speech rooted in some harsh global and political realities, and one unlikely to rank among Mr. Bush's most memorable. Instead of evoking the grand ambitions that have suffused his presidency since the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Bush emphasized the familiar and the modest. At a moment of partisan fervor, he offered an olive branch, reviving a pledge to lower the temperature. "Our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger," he said.

Yet by any measure, Mr. Bush's options are far more limited than they were a year ago. Much of the momentum he boasted about in the days after his re-election is gone, some of it lost on a bold Social Security initiative that never took off, some washed away by the deeply disorganized federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

The budget deficit, rising again despite Mr. Bush's promise to cut it in half by the time he leaves office in 2009, effectively handcuffs him when it comes to new initiatives. The few new ideas he unveiled were largely thematic, not backed by broad programmatic initiatives.

[papau]

3. and Brownstein says "Bush's Agenda Is Cautious"

"It spoke volumes that he now proposed not to remake Social Security but to restudy it, with the appointment of a bipartisan commission to examine the structure of all federal entitlement programs for the aged. Nor did Bush say a word about fundamental restructuring of the tax code&"

"The speech also was noteworthy (sic) in urging more bipartisan cooperation& As this election year takes shape, one crucial question may be how long the generally conciliatory tone Bush struck will drive the White House political message."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-assess1feb01,0,7657747.story?coll=la-home-nation

From the Los Angeles Times
NEWS ANALYSIS

To Still Midterm Waters, Bush's Agenda Is Cautious
His speech shifts from high-concept plans to those easier to deliver on ahead of 2006 elections.

By Ronald Brownstein
Times Staff Writer

February 1, 2006

WASHINGTON — Chastened. Deferential. Modest.

<snip>But they capture the distinctive elements of the State of the Union address Bush delivered Tuesday after a grueling 2005 that sent his public approval ratings plummeting to the lowest levels of his presidency.

Bush was as resolute and confident as ever in defending his strategy for fighting terrorism, his determination to promote democracy in the Middle East and his decision to invade Iraq. Although he did not threaten military action, he was also firm in warning Iran against continuing to move toward nuclear weapons.

But on domestic policy, the president struck the tone of a man searching for a fresh start. With his own job performance numbers and approval ratings for the Republican-controlled Congress sagging only 10 months before the 2006 elections, Bush mostly advanced a cautious agenda that seemed to aim less at transforming the political debate than at helping the GOP survive a hostile political environment.<snip>

[papau]

4. Lowered Expectations Reflect Political and Fiscal Realities

the "scaled-down blueprint for governing" offered by the President was the result of the war in Iraq which has "drained the administration's energy and creativity" and domestic political and fiscal realities.????????


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101620_pf.html

Lowered Expectations Reflect Political and Fiscal Realities

By Dan Balz and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, February 1, 2006; A01



<snip>

Bush begins this election year far weaker than he was a year ago. The most telling evidence came on domestic policy. Last year, he used his State of the Union address to launch an ambitious plan to restructure Social Security. This year, with that plan not even coming to a vote in the House or Senate, he called simply for a new commission to examine the impact of baby-boom retirees on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Instead, Bush put his domestic focus on the economy, health care and energy, problems of far more immediate concern to voters than the future of the government's retirement insurance program. If he hoped in 2005 to show he was grappling with issues of the future, last night he sought to reassure Americans that he understands why so many of them are unhappy with the direction of the country.

The president has never lacked for big ambitions, particularly in foreign policy, and he restated many of them last night. But his address lacked the rhetorical lift of some of his best efforts of the past, and the domestic policy agenda, although lengthy, included initiatives that have been around for some time.<snip>

[papau]

5. And Fournier wonders why stuff not done yet despite prior promises

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101651.html

Analysis: State of the Union Agitated

By RON FOURNIER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; 10:49 PM

WASHINGTON -- The state of the union is fretful.
President Bush acknowledged the public's agitated state Tuesday night when he gave voice to growing concerns about the course of the nation he has led for five years. His credibility no longer the asset it once was, the president begged Americans' indulgence for another chance to fix things.

There is no shortage: the Iraq war, global terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a stingy global economy, skyrocketing health care costs, troubled U.S. schools, rising fuel costs, looming budget deficits and government corruption. All received presidential attention Tuesday night.

In his fifth State of the Union address, Bush sought to balance his usual optimistic message with an odd-fitting acknowledgment that many Americans are suffering beneath a crush of change.<snip>