George W Bush's State of the Union speech on Monday will abandon sweeping ambition and instead reflect the political realities of his final 12 months in office, say White House aides. With the nation's attention increasingly shifting to those who will compete to succeed him in November's election, the 43rd president's annual address will not include any bold proposals. "It's just not realistic," acknowledged Dana Perino, his press secretary. advertisement On foreign policy, the president will tout progress in Iraq and restate that more US troops will come home only as conditions allow. He will also promote the US-backed Middle East peace bid, but the rhetoric will lack the grandeur of his call to spread freedom to the "darkest corners of the world" made at his second inauguration in 2005. Mr Bush's approval ratings remain in the low 30s and few commentators are forecasting that his legacy will be remembered kindly. A new book, The Bush Tragedy, identifies three acts within his life. "Act One is the son's struggle to be like his dad until the age of 40. Act Two is his growing success over the next 15 years as he learned to be different. The botched search for a doctrine to clarify world affairs and the president's progressive descent into messianism constitute the conclusive third act," writes Jacob Weisberg, a leading journalist and author of Bushisms, a collection of the president's malapropisms. Mr Weisberg concludes that the younger Bush has been driven by a desire to better his father and to frame the kind of imposing foreign policy dogma lacking in the earlier regime. Americans will probably be listening most closely to Mr Bush for reassurance on the economy, which supersedes Iraq as an election issue. Energy costs are rising, the housing market is troubled and there is a visceral fear of foreign competition for jobs and trade. Having recently announced a £75?billion ($150?billion) tax-rebate package to stimulate the economy, Mr Bush is expected to ask Congress to make permanent other tax cuts that are set to expire in 2010. The day after his speech the media focus will switch to the Republican primary in Florida. Within weeks a new face who will compete in November for the party could have been chosen. |
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