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Bush urges confidence amid fears over economy

US President George W. Bush, standing before Congress one last time, urged Americans to stand confident against gnawing recession fears and be patient with the grinding war in Iraq.

Bush delivered his final State of the Union address before a hostile, Democratic-led Congress eager for the end of his term next January.

With his approval rating near its all-time low, the president lacked the political muscle to push bold ideas, and he did not try. The one possible exception was the economy. He urged lawmakers to urgently approve a US$150 billion plan to stave off a recession through tax rebates -- negotiated with Democratic and Republican lawmakers -- for families and incentives for businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.

"As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty," Bush said. "And at kitchen tables across our country there is concern about our economic future."

Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the war has been a main topic of Bush's annual addresses to Congress. He said the buildup of 30,000 US troops and an increase in Iraqi forces "have achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago."

"Some may deny the surge is working," Bush said, "but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al-Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated."

Bush announced no troop withdrawals, except for a start in the return of the 30,000 sent last year for his "surge" troop buildup.

He said General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, had warned that "too fast a drawdown could result in the `disintegration of the Iraqi Security Forces, al-Qaeda-Iraq regaining lost ground, [and] a marked increase in violence.' Members of Congress: Having come so far and achieved so much, we must not allow this to happen."

Bush also prodded Congress to extend a law that allows surveillance of suspected terrorists, renew his education law and approve free-trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Afterwards, Senator Barack Obama criticized Bush's speech.

"Tonight, for the seventh long year, the American people heard a State of the Union that didn't reflect the America we see, and didn't address the challenges we face," Obama said.

"Tonight's State of the Union was full of the same empty rhetoric the American people have come to expect from this president," he said.

Senator Hillary Clinton called the speech "more of the same -- a frustrating commitment to the same failed policies that helped turn record surpluses into large deficits, and push a thriving 21st century economy to the brink of recession."

In the official Democratic response to the president's address, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius urged Bush to work with Congress and help the US regain its global standing damaged by the war.

"The last five years have cost us dearly -- in lives lost; in thousands of wounded warriors whose futures may never be the same; in challenges not met here at home because our resources were committed elsewhere," Sebelius said. "America's foreign policy has left us with fewer allies and more enemies."

The annual State of the Union address normally ranks among the biggest events in the US political calendar. This year's speech has been overshadowed by the intense presidential campaigns.

Aides had said Bush would not use the address as a summation of his time in office, but he did. He turned to the phrase "over the past seven years" when talking about some of the most-prized efforts of his administration: tax relief, participation in religious charities, his global freedom agenda and increased funding for veterans.

The rhetorical device that held the speech together was trust in people -- taxpayers, homeowners, medical researchers, doctors and patients, students, workers, energy entrepreneurs and others -- to drive their own success and that of the country. The unspoken message: Government is not the answer.

On Iraq, Bush said US adversaries have been hit hard, although "they are not yet defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead."

There are 158,000 US troops in Iraq, a number expected to drop to 135,000 by July. There are 28,000 in Afghanistan, the highest number of the war, which began there in October 2001.

On other subjects, Bush said a new international agreement is necessary to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gases, but to be effective it must be signed by all nations.

He said Congress should provide food aid by allowing the purchase of crops directly from farmers in developing countries "so we can build up local agriculture and help break the cycle of famine."

He also announced that this year's North American summit will be held in New Orleans, a gesture to the return of the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
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