WASHINGTON, Jan 29: US President George W. Bush will seek to parlay his popularity as a wartime leader into support for a more contentious domestic agenda on Tuesday as he gives his first State of the Union address to an election-year Congress.
Bush and White House officials have said the speech at 9:01pm EST (0201 GMT on Wednesday) will focus on the broad themes of winning the war on terrorism and reviving a recessionary US economy.
The president made clear on Monday he will be staking out an aggressive agenda to his congressional audience despite the difficulties posed by election-year politics.
“Election year or no election year, it’s time to get something done,” Bush said on Monday as he announced plans to use the speech to call for a prescription drug benefit for patients in the Medicare health plan for the elderly.
The nationally televised prime-time speech will give the president a chance to pitch his domestic agenda while he also reminds Americans of his leadership in the war on global terrorism since the Sept 11 attacks, which has kept his job approval ratings above 80%.—Reuters
