Editorial: Bush’s state of the union

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006 | 8:10 a.m.

George Bush, hoping to jump-start a presidency that has stalled, laid out his agenda for the coming year during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Many of the themes from the speech, particularly on staying the course in the war in Iraq, didn't chart new ground. Much of the address devoted to domestic policy contained refrains we have heard before, too, including a call for making permanent his tax cuts that are due to expire -- despite federal deficits that have grown exponentially since he became president.

Bush did call for greater energy independence, noting that "America is addicted to oil." He said that the "best way to break this addiction is through technology," including more federal research into producing alternative fuels.

It is good to see the president moving in this direction, but it would be easier to take him seriously on the issue of lessening our dependence on foreign oil if his administration had acted as if it had cared before. In particular, the White House had scorned the benefits of energy conservation during Bush's first five years in office.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, two former oil industry executives, have been more than happy to push drilling with nary a thought to conservation, including the benefits of increasing the fuel- efficiency standards of vehicles. Apparently, with the price of a barrel of oil nearing $70, and Americans becoming riled by spiking oil prices and record profits made by oil companies, the White House has belatedly discovered the necessity of conservation.

It is alarming that the president wants to promote more nuclear power, despite the fact the federal government has not found a way to safely store high-level nuclear waste. Although Bush wants to send nuclear waste to Nevada, evidence keeps accumulating that shows just how dangerous it would be to bury it at Yucca Mountain. It doesn't make any sense to push such a deadly source of energy such as nuclear power.

We did like hearing that Bush wants to boost this nation's investment in math and science in our public schools, including training 70,000 high school teachers who would instruct students in advanced placement courses. The details of the program so far are sketchy, but it is absolutely essential that we do a better job of educating our students in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Bush has suffered serious setbacks in the year since he delivered his last State of the Union address. His signature proposal from the 2005 State of the Union address, privatizing Social Security, has been abandoned because the public wanted nothing to do with it.

In addition, gas prices have hit new highs, scandals have beset the Republican Party, the administration was inept in its handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis and Bush's once highly touted Medicare drug plan has turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. His administration still is having problems finding its way to success in the Iraq war, too.

In light of all of this, Bush's job approval ratings, not surprisingly, hover in the high 30s and low 40s. And roughly 6 in 10 Americans in one poll said recently that the nation is on the wrong track. This is, quite simply, a White House that can't get it right. Bush very well might get a bump in the polls after this speech, but we don't believe this one address will suddenly turn around his presidency.

Bush asked members of Congress on Tuesday to set aside their partisan differences and work together -- no small task in an election year. "To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of good will and respect for one another -- and I will do my part," he said.

He has said that before, but one of the big problems that the president has had is that he is extraordinarily partisan. No matter how much he has talked about the need to come together and avoid partisanship, his administration instead has done everything possible to suggest that Democrats who have genuine, substantive differences with him on national security issues are unpatriotic.

Our nation is facing great challenges, especially abroad. If we are to make real strides in the coming year and beyond, it will require the president to set a new tone, one in which he listens to those who have different ideas than his. The president's style of governing -- my way or else -- hasn't been working. It's time for a new direction.