WASHINGTON — Relaxed, confident and unapologetic, President Bush delivered his seventh and likely final State of the Union address Monday, giving a triumphal appraisal of the war in Iraq and citing a list of modest proposals that came with two barbed veto threats.
The president opened the speech to the joint session of Congress with an appeal to bipartisanship, noting that the two parties had cooperated in recent days on proposed legislation to rescue the economy from a feared recession.
"In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them," Bush said. "And let us show them that Republican and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time."
But he quickly moved on to better-trod partisan ground, threatening to veto any tax increase and castigating Congress for what he considered wasteful funding for pet projects known as earmarks.
He said he would veto any spending bill that does not cut the cost of earmarks in half and would order his administration to ignore future earmarks attached to legislation at the last minute. "The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks," he chided.
Some Democrats took offense. "I found it to be very combative and confrontational," Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) said. "Right out of the box, he started off with everything he's going to veto. His whole last two years has been about stopping change and stopping progress."
Bush devoted the largest section of his speech to the Iraq war, and his tone contrasted sharply with that of a year earlier -- when he used the address to acknowledge insurgent violence was on the rise and announce a "surge" in troops.
This year, with violence waning, Bush returned to the soaring rhetoric more typical of his State of the Union speeches. "We will not rest until this enemy has been defeated," he proclaimed. "We must do the difficult work today, so that years from now people will look back and say that this generation rose to the moment, prevailed in a tough fight, and left behind a more hopeful region and a safer America."
Throughout the 53-minute address, Bush connected his themes by using the word "trust" as a rhetorical refrain to herald the conservative idea of small government.
"In all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions, and empower them to improve their lives and their futures," he said.
