Bush challenges Congress on the economy

Strong backing for surge in Iraq
Aides told NBC News’ David Gregory that Bush resisted the impulse to make his final State of the Union a valedictory retrospective of his achievements in office. In addition to the aggressive economic push, he also made a spirited defense of the U.S. military “surge” in Iraq.

“Some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt: Al-Qaida is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated,” he said.

The president also essentially confirmed reports last week by NBC News that the U.S. mission in Iraq would change significantly from a combat profile to a support role bolstering Iraqi forces mainly with intelligence and logistics.

“Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007, while transitioning to the next phase of our strategy,” the president said. “American troops are shifting from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission.”

Bush said the troops could begin pulling back because they had made great progress in the past year, allowing him to begin “implementing a policy of ‘return on success.’ ”

“The surge forces we sent to Iraq are beginning to come home,” he said.

But Bush cautioned against weakening American resolve in the struggle against international terrorism, which he called “the defining ideological struggle of the 21st century.”

“The terrorists oppose every principle of humanity and decency that we hold dear,” he said. “Yet in this war on terror, there is one thing we and our enemies agree on: In the long run, men and women who are free to determine their own destinies will reject terror and refuse to live in tyranny.”

No ‘safe haven’ for Iraq
While acknowledging that “the mission in Iraq has been difficult and trying for our nation,” Bush offered a vision of a free Iraq that “will deny al-Qaida a safe haven.”

“A free Iraq will show millions across the Middle East that a future of liberty is possible,” he said. “And a free Iraq will be a friend of America, a partner in fighting terror and a source of stability in a dangerous part of the world.”

But Democrats, led by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who gave the party's response to the speech, signaled that they would not accept Bush’s reassurances.

“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.”

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a former Republican who reached the Senate on the strength of his anti-war message, criticized Bush for focusing too closely on Iraq at the expense of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he said the threat from al-Qaida was growing.

“When the president tries to look at Iraq separate from the region, he is not being honest,” Webb said in an interview on MSNBC. “We have failed again with this administration in terms of putting the right diplomatic arrangement in place.”

Clinton, Obama dismiss Bush’s remarks
In addition to McCain, two other major presidential candidates were in the chamber for Bush’s final State of the Union. The front-runners for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois returned to Capitol Hill for the evening before quickly getting back on the campaign trial.

The senators joined in most of the ritual applause for Bush’s crowd-pleasing lines, but at least twice, Obama choice to remain seated when Clinton joined in standing ovations, first when Bush said that because families have to keep to a budget the government should, too, and later when the president called for full funding for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Both, however, agreed that they were glad to see Bush deliver his last State of the Union.

“Tonight is a red-letter night in American history,” Clinton said. “It is the last time George Bush will give the State of the Union. Next year, it will be a Democratic president giving it.”

Obama said in a statement: “Tonight was President Bush’s last State of the Union, and I do not believe history will judge his administration kindly.”

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