The Hindu : Bush takes pride in economy, war on terrorism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

International

International

Bush takes pride in economy, war on terrorism

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 21. The U.S. President, George W Bush, has laid out the framework of his re-election campaign theme stressing that the economy is strengthening and that the country is successfully fighting the war on terrorism. In his State of the Union Message to Congress before the November 2 Presidential elections, Mr. Bush expectedly stayed the course and defended his domestic and foreign policies.

"We have not come all this way — through tragedy, trial and war — only to falter and leave our work unfinished," Mr. Bush told law-makers and others assembled in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. While Republicans and supporters repeatedly cheered him, prominent Democrats — like for instance Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts — sat silently and at times shook their heads in dissent. In his 54-minute address, Mr. Bush made it very clear that he was making national security and terrorism as one of his major planks in the election battle with the Democrats.

A defiant Mr. Bush defended his policies on Iraq and elsewhere, not for a second acknowledging that the U.S. had gone to war without international backing or that the so-called rationales of going to war — like the presence of weapons of mass destruction — had not lived up to analysis and scrutiny. But that did also not stop him from claiming on Tuesday night that had America failed to act, "the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programmes would continue to this day".

"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people," Mr. Bush remarked in what appeared to be a direct hit on all those Democratic Presidential hopefuls who in the campaign trail are sharply criticising him for what had gone on in Iraq and in the name of the war on terror.

And at a time when there has been wide-ranging criticism of the Patriot Act, especially from civil rights groups, Mr. Bush called on law-makers to extend provisions of the Act which in his view have been quite instrumental and helpful to law enforcement agencies in combating terror.

"Our greatest responsibility is the active defence of the American people. Twentyeight months have passed since Sept 11, 2001— over two years without an attack on American soil; and it is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting and false."

Mr. Bush defended his actions in Afghanistan and Iraq saying that of the 55 most wanted officials of the Saddam Hussein regime, 45 had been captured or killed; and of Mr. Hussein, Mr. Bush said, "The once all powerful ruler of Iraq was found in a hole and now in a prison cell."

In the realm of domestic politics and policies, Mr. Bush sought support for his temporary guest worker programme that will give hope to millions of illegal immigrants to get temporary legal status. He called on Congress to make some of the tax cuts permanent. To easing things with the Conservative Right, he warned that a "constitutional process" might be necessary if the so-called activist judges allowed same sex marriages.

In New Hampshire, much of what Mr. Bush said was unappealing to the Democratic candidates vying for the party nomination."Hardworking Americans will see through the President's effort to wrap his radical agenda with a compassionate ribbon," said Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont. "It's all smoke and mirrors designed to hide the stark fact that he has no real plan for our future," remarked the retired General, Wesley Clark.

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