President Bush delivered his annual State of the Union speech Tuesday evening to a joint session of Congress, marking the first time that Bush has addressed the Democrat-controlled Congress. Members of the University community voiced different responses to Bush's speech.
University Democrats President Sophia Brumby said that as members of her organization gathered to watch the speech, many were pleasantly surprised that Bush mentioned alternative energy and balancing the budget.
She criticized the president, however, for what she said was an attempt to avoid discussing the unpopular Iraq War.
"I think he focused a lot on domestic policy, especially at the beginning of the speech, in order to take the focus off Iraq, which is not going well," Brumby said.
College Republicans Chair Amber VerValin said the President delivered a strong speech.
"He was looking at how we can move forward in Iraq, and I think we can all agree on that, whether you agree with the war or not ... I don't think that he was by any means skirting the issue," VerValin said.
Politics Prof. Larry Sabato said that despite the strength of the President's speech, Iraq remains Bush's greatest political issue.
"A speech is just a speech," Sabato said. "Bush gave a reasonably good speech, but it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what happens in Iraq. If the situation gets better, he can resume an active presidency. If the situation doesn't get better, then he's marking time until 2009."
Following the State of the Union Address, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb delivered the Democratic response. Webb is the second consecutive Virginia politician to deliver a Democratic response to the President's State of the Union speech after Gov. Time Kaine last year.
Sabato said while it is too early to make predictions about the 2008 presidential race, Webb's response resonated with Democratic blogs.
"It was perhaps the toughest response I've ever seen to a State of the Union address, and that's because Webb feels so strongly about Iraq and that came across ... Grassroots Democrats loved Webb's response, and as a consequence now, he has a cheering section to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee." Sabato said.
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