President Bush lays out modest agenda

The president insisted that his Iraq policy is working.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday used his final State of the Union address to launch what the White House called “a sprint to the finish,” but his modest agenda made it clear that his dismal political standing and a wary Democratic Congress prohibit grand ambitions for his final year in office.

The address seemed aimed more at what presidential advisers called “realistic” goals for the year than trying to establish a lasting Bush legacy.

Though he remained insistent that his Iraq policy is working well, he barely mentioned other initiatives that were the centerpieces of his earlier annual addresses, notably overhauls of immigration and Social Security, which both failed.

Instead, Bush talked of what may be possible in his final year in office. He voiced special pride in the $150 billion economic stimulus plan that he and congressional leaders forged last week.

And he offered more humble initiatives, such as urging the ratification of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, new help for military families and $300 million in scholarships for poor children to help them attend private and faith-based schools or out-of-area public schools.

This was a gentler, more accommodating president, one signaling that he was still wounded from the bruising fights he endured last year with the Democratic Congress.

Bush gave a sober assessment of the country’s economy. He cited a need for tax breaks, both short and long term, and promised to veto any measure that doesn’t halve the number and dollar amount of “earmarks,” special projects that lawmakers insert into spending bills without due review.

“We can all see that growth is slowing,” Bush said in a blunt acknowledgment of rising food and gas prices, increasing unemployment and turmoil in the housing and financial markets.

He touched only briefly on several vexing problems that he’s been trying to ease throughout his presidency. Bush called for making health care more affordable and once again brought up health-care savings accounts, but he quickly dropped the subject. Nor did he dwell on the looming fiscal crisis in Social Security and Medicare, both due to cost taxpayers trillions in the near future as baby boomers retire.

He called the coming fiscal crisis, as well as an immigration overhaul, “pressing challenges that I have raised before this body and that this body has failed to address.”

White House counselor Ed Gillespie seemed almost apologetic about including such lofty subjects, saying that viewers would be disappointed if such an important speech didn’t mention such topics. But, in briefing reporters before the speech, Gillespie acknowledged that little progress was expected on them this presidential election year.

One of Bush’s few new initiatives would allow service members to transfer any unused GI education benefits to spouses or children. The Army currently permits such transfers; under the Bush plan, all veterans, spouses or children could get up to 36 months of help for college, technical or vocational courses or job training.

Bush also would extend federal government hiring preferences now available to veterans to their spouses. Such ideas are unlikely to meet serious resistance.

But the Iraq war, which enters its sixth year in March, is far less popular. Nevertheless, the president wouldn’t budge from his view that the war is a noble and increasingly successful cause.

“Some may deny the surge is working,” Bush said, “but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al-Qaida is on the run in Iraq and this enemy will be defeated.”

Bush also called for the extension of the Protect America Act, which gives the government broad power — critics say far too much — to monitor suspected terrorists. The act expires Friday.

“On the homefront, we will continue to take every lawful and effective measure to protect our country. This is our most solemn duty. We are grateful that there has not been another attack on our soil since September 11. This is not for a lack of desire or effort on the part of the enemy,” Bush said.

“Dedicated men and women in our government toil day and night to stop the terrorists from carrying out their plans. These good citizens are saving American lives, and everyone in this chamber owes them our thanks. And we owe them something more: We owe them the tools they need to keep our people safe.”

The president looked far from Iraq, too, offering what he called a “global compassion” agenda.

More than half the world’s food assistance comes from the United States, and Bush proposed to help provide that aid by buying crops from farmers in developing nations.

He also asked that his emergency plan for AIDS relief get double its current funding. The program is aimed at providing treatment for people in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Bush plans to visit Africa next month.