Bush Dishes with Governors

ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: President Bush spoke before the nation’s governors today at the White House in remarks that were a buffet of foreign and domestic policy issues.

The President highlighted the two "active fronts" in the war on terrorism: Afghanistan and Iraq. He then rephrased his remarks and said that there are other active fronts, but these two countries are the "most visible" in the war on terror.

President Bush spoke briefly about his strategy in Iraq and said he made a decision that he thinks is "more likely to succeed than any of the alternatives that were presented" to him.

Stressing that he does not believe that someone is unpatriotic if they do not agree with his point of view, the President managed to take a subtle swipe at the Democrats on Capitol Hill when he said, "I think it’s important for people to understand the consequences of not giving our troops the resources necessary to do the job. So I’m looking forward to a healthy debate."

The President then outlined issues on which is "looking forward to working with" the governors and Congress, such as immigration, the reauthorizing of No Child Left Behind, and health care, and made a particular request of the governors, saying, "I wish I had the line-item veto like you all do — or some of you do. It makes it easier to deal with the issues like earmarks or these interests that get stuffed into these bills at the last minute without having been debated."

"If you want to give the President a hand, you might suggest to Congress to let me have the tools that many of you have in this room," he added.