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News

Bush looks for allies on Democratic side of aisle

NEWS ANALYSIS

by MATT DULIN

After tipping his hat to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Bush used his seventh State of the Union address to look for a path to bipartisanship, not only on domestic matters, but also on the contentious question of how to handle Iraq -- clearly the key to restoring the public's confidence in his presidency.

Bush is finding increasing numbers of people who disagree with his handling of the war in Iraq, even in his own party, especially with the decision to increase troop deployment by more than 20,000. The Senate on Thursday put forward a non-binding resolution, supported by Democrats and a few Republicans, condemning the decision, though not actually blocking the move.

"I chose this course of action because it offers the best chance for success," Bush said, prefacing it by saying all options were reviewed. 

"In order to make progress … the Iraqi government must stop the sectarian violence in its capital," he said. "But the Iraqis are not yet ready to do this on their own. So we are deploying reinforcements. … The vast majority will go to Baghdad."

Bush's request to Congress: "Give it a chance to work."

But Democrats seemed to be unwilling to do that in their response after the State of the Union. 

"We need a new direction," Virginia Rep. Jim Webb said. "Not a precipitous withdrawal that ignores the possibility of further chaos. But an immediate shift toward strong regionally based diplomacy, a policy that takes our soldiers off the streets of Iraq's cities."

Indeed, Bush may find better luck from Democrats in supporting a number of domestic projects he spent nearly half of his 50-minute speech discussing a guest worker program for immigrants and initiatives to promote of alternative fuels. Bush even acknowledged global climate change, saying that new technologies will make it possible to solve the problem.

If there were a central message of the address, it was Bush's desire to make friends among Democrats.

"We are not the first to come here with government divided and uncertainty in the air," he said. "Like many before us, we can work through our differences and achieve big things for the American people. Our citizens don't much care which side of the aisle we sit on -- as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done."

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