Standing before a joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush delivered a forceful, terse address on the State of the Union last night, asserting his commitment to strengthening the economy and eradicating terrorism, while confidently assuring the nation that "the state of our union has never been stronger."
Early in the speech, Bush referred back to the Sept. 11 "hour of shock and suffering," praising domestic rebuilding efforts and the military's progress in destroying Afghanistan's terrorist camps, rendering the country our "allies against terror."
"Our cause is just," Bush declared, as he began to emphasize the recurring theme that the United States' war on terror was not only a necessity of domestic security, but more romantically, a conflict of good versus evil.
Bush called on the nation to be "steadfast, and patient, and persistent" in the pursuit of what he hailed to be two great objectives. The first, he said, is to apprehend terrorists worldwide. Complimenting Pakistani President Musharraf on his cooperation with the United States, Bush demanded that other terrorist-friendly countries follow suit, promising that "if they do not act, America will."
Punctuating his second goal, Bush vowed to prevent terrorist-sponsoring regimes from threatening the United States with nuclear weapons, directing specific threats toward North Korea, Iran and Iraq, which he called an "axis of evil."
Naming security as his primary concern, Bush pointed to the nation's budget to achieve the three goals of winning the war on terror, protecting the homeland, and reviving the economy. In spite of the projected $106 billion deficit for 2002, Bush was met with full applause upon stating that "whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay it."
Addressing the recession and the terrorist threat as one issue, Bush added, "we will prevail in the war and will defeat this recession." The comment served to emphasize the speech's overall theme of bipartisan unity.
"It is difficult to criticize the extra spending credibly because we're experiencing war and recession simultaneously," said Larry J. Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs.
"The economic reality is that the economy entered a recession last March," CNN Political Analyst Bill Schneider said. "But the political reality is that most people think the September 11th attacks prolonged and deepened the recession. This is Osama bin Laden's recession - not the president's," Schneider said. "This way he can package them together."
And while Bush was careful not to mention the Enron disaster specifically, he called on the need for increased corporate accountability through more strict accounting standards as well as safeguards against employee pension funds.
"Employees who have worked hard and saved all their lives should not have to risk losing everything if their company fails," he said.
Bush concluded the 45-minute speech with what he called America's "non-negotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, private property, free speech and religious tolerance"
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