Bush Speech Tries to Change the Subject

Jan. 23, 2007 — -- Iraq became the elephant in the room during President Bush's sixth State of the Union address, overshadowing the limited legislative agenda of the new energy, health care, immigration and education plans.

Bush outlined no new policies in Iraq, beyond suggesting a bipartisan advisory council in the administration's broader war on terror. He framed the U.S. presence in Iraq as a bulwark against an onslaught of Muslim terrorists who would otherwise use Mesopotamia as a safe haven from which to attack Americans and their allies.

"The war on terror we fight today is a generational struggle that will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to others," Bush said. "That is why it is important to work together so our nation can see this great effort through."

Having spent nearly two months crafting a New Way Forward in Iraq, Bush sought to change the focus to new domestic policies. As expected, the president called for a return to balanced budgets and an end to the so-called "earmarks" lawmakers use to slip pet projects into bills without a vote.

Presidents usually outline a litany of legislative proposals -- many of them dead on arrival -- in State of the Union addresses. But in a departure that seemed to acknowledge that the House and Senate are now under new Democratic majority that has already demonstrated it is unlikely to give its imprimatur to a new legislative agenda from a Republican president, Bush instead delivered a more thematic address.

He homed in narrowly on what White House officials described as four "bold" and "ambitious" new initiatives on health care, education, immigration and energy.

Bush became the first president to utter the words "Madame Speaker" in a State of the Union address, an acknowledgment to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who presided behind him.

"Some in this chamber are new to the House and Senate -- and I congratulate the Democratic majority.  Congress has changed, but our responsibilities have not," he said. "Our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on -- as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done."

Yet the president met his most hostile -- and powerful -- audience yet for his annual summary of the nation's condition. Democrats held their focus on Iraq, a point they highlighted by choosing Vietnam War veteran Jim Webb to offer the Democratic response. Webb unseated GOP Sen. Jim Allen in an upset inspired almost entirely by his vehement criticism of the Iraq War, all the while wearing the combat boots of his son, who has been fighting in Iraq, in answer to Allen's cowboy boots.

"The president took us into this war recklessly," Webb said in the Democrats' response. "We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable -- and predicted -- disarray that has followed."