Houston Chronicle: "Bush hopes to reclaim his agenda" with SOTU

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Jan. 28, 2006, 10:29PM
STATE OF THE UNION
Bush hopes to reclaim his agenda on Tuesday
But with federal budget strapped, he can roll out few initiatives in his annual speech

By JULIE MASON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3620111.html

WASHINGTON - President Bush raises the curtain Tuesday on a presidential year he hopes will be better than the last, offering in his annual State of the Union speech a scaled-back agenda for the nation from what polls show is a stable but diminished political standing.

Bush is relying on progress in Iraq and his handling of the war on terror to ballast perceptions of his leadership, in what is likely to be his last year of uninterrupted legacy-making before the campaign to replace him begins.

I recognize this is an election year, but I believe that we can work together to achieve results," Bush said in previewing his State of the Union address. "In other words, I think we can set aside the partisanship that inevitably will come with an election year and get some stuff done, and that's what I'm going to call Congress to do." On the domestic front, Bush will spend the year promoting a modest program of tax cuts, health savings plans, tax breaks for health care costs and addressing high energy prices.

With a majority of Americans unhappy with the job Bush is doing, according to surveys, the president is likely to add an accessible, politically popular issue such as mine safety, an area of concern after two, high-profile fatal mining accidents in recent weeks. The president indicated he will take an optimistic, upbeat tone for the speech, but he is limited in how many new programs and initiatives he can roll out, with the federal budget already strapped because of the Iraq war and rebuilding costs for hurricane-ravaged states.

[Skidmore]

1. More lying, cheating, stealing, torturing, spying to come.

[MichiganVote]

2. In my republican area---republicans are in big trouble

People here are fed up with expanded gov't, deficits, tax give away's to the wealthy. You name it, they're not happy with Congress.

[AnnInLa]

3. Repukes: The Party of Health Insurance Reform.....yeah

Hoping it won't go the way of his SS reform program, he will introduce Healthcare/insurance savings accounts. My two sons, who are among the working poor, have no health insurance whatsoever...they work off-shore, sporadically, and if they had money left over for savings accounts, they would be buying health insurance already, or extra food, or extra clothes, or going to the dentist, or repairing their ancient vehicles. This from Josh Marshall caught my eye:





http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com

The president wants to make health care his political issue this year. No Democrat should open their mouth this year on this topic without first saying this: The president thinks the problem is that Americans have too much health insurance; we don't.

Health care policy is an immensely complicated issue. And that complexity can sometimes be a cover for politicians pushing policies that would screw most families. In this case, however, the president and his supporters have done everyone the favor is simplifying what they're up to and what they want to do.

The president thinks you're over-insured. He thinks you have too much health insurance.

Add water and stir ...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. MINE SAFETY?

After he put mine industry lobbyists in charge of safety?

Thanks, George. How many live later, you SOB? Or what was that on C-span this morning? "Lying, cockcsucker, Son of a Bitch?"

[LynnTheDem]

5. "relying on progress in Iraq..."

:rofl:

[WinkyDink]

7. Too bad Bob Woodruff won't be reporting this.

Bush is probably ticked off that this story might still be around on Tuesday.
But I noticed this a.m. only ABC covered it; nothing on CNN or CNN-H.

[WinkyDink]

6. The Mars Mission, anyone?

Will he even mention NO?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. Or his crusade against steroids in pro sports?

ALWAYS a big S.O.T.U. crowd-pleaser for Junior.

:evilgrin:

[RC]

9. Too bad they will not let a real Democrat or a real Liberal

tear his SOTU apart lying talking point by lying talking point in the Minority rebuttal afterwords.