ShareThisPresident Bush portrayed a crucial mission for the United States abroad and an expansive role for the federal government at home Tuesday evening in a State of the Union address to both chambers of Congress.
Saying "America is addicted to oil," Bush called for reducing U.S. crude imports from the Middle East by 75 percent within two decades, and he pledged to boost federal funding of research for ethanol, other alternative fuels and lithium batteries to power cars.
While insisting that the American economy remains pre-eminent, Bush urged Congress to spend $50 billion over the next decade for 70,000 new high school math and science teachers to help produce an elite workforce that can compete with "new competitors" in China and India.
In terms that built on the main themes of his second inaugural address last year, Bush linked U.S. national security with the peace and prosperity of people in distant lands.
"Abroad, our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal: We seek the end of tyranny in our world," Bush said. "Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future security of America depends on it."
Bush issued harsh warnings for Iran, "a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite," and vowed to "rally the world" against its bid to acquire nuclear weapons.
Turning to another Middle East hotspot, Bush acknowledged the Palestinian parliamentary election victory of Hamas, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist group, but said its leaders must now "recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for lasting peace."
And Bush again vowed to defeat Iraqi insurgents, saying, "Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning."
Bush displayed little sign of a weakened second-term president facing a broad range of political perils, from job-approval ratings just above 40 percent to public concern about the Iraq war and congressional hearings next week on his secret wiretapping initiative.
Bush mentioned Osama bin Laden twice, and he made two references to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks the fugitive terrorist's operatives carried out.
"Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder _ and all of us must take their declared intentions seriously," he said. "They seek to impose a heartless system of totalitarian control throughout the Middle East, and arm themselves with weapons of mass murder. Their aim is to seize power in Iraq, and use it as a safe haven to launch attacks against America and the world."
Samuel Alito, confirmed by the Senate and sworn in earlier in the day, joined the eight other Supreme Court justices at the front of the historic chamber, filled with senators and representatives, members of Bush's Cabinet, foreign ambassadors and invited guests.
Bush drew one of the most sustained rounds of applause when he gestured toward Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, confirmed by the Senate in September, and said: "The Supreme Court now has two superb new members."
While Bush said the government is on track to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009, he sought tens of billions of dollars in new spending while also asking that the tax cuts enacted in his first term be made permanent.
In a passing reference to the lobbying scandal tying Jack Abramoff to some lawmakers, Bush sided with those pushing reform of "earmarks" _ special-interest projects pushed into spending bills at the last minute.
Democratic congressional leaders rejected Bush's calls for bipartisan cooperation, saying he had made such appeals before only to accuse Democratic critics of being unpatriotic and soft on terrorism.
"If America is addicted to oil, President Bush is its enabler," said Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader. "Under his administration the price of gas and the profits of oil companies have risen to record highs. Americans need more than words from an administration that let Big Oil write our energy policy."
Reid cited government statistics showing that Americans' dependence on foreign oil has increased since Bush took office, with imported crude rising from 58.2 percent of all oil consumed in the United States in 2000 to 61.7 percent today.
Less than a quarter of the imported oil comes from the Middle East, so Bush's call to reduce oil imports from that region by three-quarters by the year 2025 would mean finding other sources for about 19 percent of all foreign oil consumed by Americans. The United States currently buys about 14 million barrels of oil a day from Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
In calling for aggressive U.S. leadership abroad, Bush placed himself in a tradition of four previous presidents he said helped shape the 20th century _ Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Only one of them _ Reagan _ was from Bush's Republican Party.
"In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting, yet it ends in danger and decline," he said. "The only way to protect our people, the only way to secure the peace, the only way to control our destiny is by leadership, so the United States of America will continue to lead."
Bush's appeals for American leadership abroad and expansive government initiatives at home bore little resemblance to his initial campaign themes in 2000, when he belittled President Clinton's attempts at nation-building and vowed to slash federal spending.
At one point, Bush even joked about his father's newfound friendship with Clinton; the two former presidents who have forged a close relationship since he asked them to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina last year and of the Asian tsunamis in December 2004.
"This year, the first of about 78 million Baby Boomers turn 60, including two of my dad's favorite people _ me and President Clinton," Bush said.
Noting that Congress failed to act last year on his proposal for privatized Social Security accounts, Bush asked lawmakers to join him in creating a joint executive-legislative commission "to examine the full impact of Baby Boomer retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid."
Bush said members of Congress from both parties should serve on the commission, adding, "We need to put aside partisan politics, work together and get this problem solved."
During a few minutes of levity that recalled the "tastes great, less filling" TV ads, Democrat lawmakers stood, applauded and cheered when Bush acknowledged that his Social Security reform plan had failed. After they sat down, Republicans across the center aisle rose, clapped and roared as Bush added, "With every year we fail to act, the situation gets worse."
Finally, when the president urged the creation of a bipartisan commission to probe the problem of skyrocketing entitlement programs, lawmakers from both parties applauded and yelled their approval.
John Greer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, said Bush's bipartisan gestures were mainly for show. Bush's ultimate reliance on his conservative base became evident, Greer said, in his failed Supreme Court nomination last year of Harriet Miers, Bush's White House counsel who withdrew her name after protests from Republican activists who feared she was too moderate.
"He tried to reach out to Democrats, and it was good politics, but he's not going to abandon his base," Greer said. "He's not very popular, and we're entering a congressional election year in which a lot of Republicans are concerned."
