Tonight, Bush plans to "woo back voters" with "low-risk initiatives."

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Bush scaling down his agenda

The president's State of the Union address Tuesday night is an occasion to woo back voters, unveil low-risk initiatives.

By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – Of all the audiences George W. Bush faces Tuesday night in his fifth annual State of the Union message - Congress, the American people, the world - perhaps the most important will be independent voters. It is mainly they who left the president's side last year, telling pollsters in growing numbers that they did not support the job he was doing or feel the nation was heading in the right direction. Now those numbers appear stuck well below 50 percent, after a slight uptick last month.

The question for President Bush is, will "wooable" Americans be watching? And what can he say that will grab them and force a second look? In recent weeks, the White House has telegraphed the major elements of this year's speech: an initiative to make healthcare more affordable, ideas to reduce US dependence on foreign energy, a call to extend tax cuts. The defining issues of Mr. Bush's presidency - the Iraq war and larger war on terror - will also occupy center stage.

But according to the Pew Research Center, the public has modest expectations for this year's address: Only 30 percent of Americans say it will be more important than past State of the Union messages, down from recent years.

"What moves public opinion are big events; things just don't happen," says Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center in Washington. "If things were to go swimmingly in Iraq, or if the economy were to take off like a rocket, that might silence Bush's critics." One point is certain: There will be no big, expensive initiatives unveiled in this year's speech, on the order of last year's plan to reform Social Security. That proposal has been put on hold after Bush's campaign to promote partial privatization of the system landed with a thud. Tax reform was to be this year's major project, but that, too, has been set aside for now.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0131/p01s01-uspo.html

[chelsea0011]

1. Good luck!

[meunier33]

2. Well Ive decided....

to get busy with my GF during the SOTU as a symbolic FU to Mr. arrested development poster boy. Also, I couldnt keep from laughing at the Fark headline on Alito; "? Alito ? Whoa oh oh oh ? Alito’s on the Court ? Alito’s got the vote ? Alito’s gonna overthrow “Roe,” whoa ?" to the tune of Boz Scaggs "Lido Shuffle".