US President George W. Bush will deliver his annual State of the
Union address on Monday night against the backdrop of an economy in
recession and a turbulent stock market, as well as unfinished
business concerning the so-called "axis of evil."
As the economy has surpassed Iraq as the top public concern,
Bush will use the address to sell Americans a 150-billion-dollar
economic stimulus package that the White House hopes will stave off
recession in an economy suffering from high oil prices and a
housing slump.
Bush is expected to press the Democrats-controlled Congress to
complete work on the package, which features tax rebates and
incentives for businesses to invest in facilities and
equipment.
However, some Democrats in the Senate have said they want to
broaden the bill, including an unemployment benefits expansion, an
increase in home heating subsidies or higher food stamp benefits.
But Bush has said that they could derail the whole effort and he
warned against it.
Den. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, said on
Saturday: "We need to do so much, much more. We need to fix the
bigger economic issues that threaten our country's future."
Moreover, Bush has long wanted to make permanent the tax cuts
approved early in his term, but Democrats appear to have little
interest. Bush will have to secure free trade deals with Colombia,
Panama and South Korea, but the trade deals have been stalled in
Congress over workers' rights and other Democratic concerns,
according to a report by the Washington Post.
On the diplomatic front, the "axis of evil," a phrase Bush
termed six years ago, are still a source of headaches for the Bush
administration: Iraq has failed to achieve political reconciliation
and Iraqi security forces failed to take responsibility of their
country by November 2007, although the United States dispatched
about 30,000 more troops to Iraq last year.
In terms of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, it failed
to meet the deadline to declare its nuclear activities, and
according to local media, US officials worry that Pyongyang might
be waiting for Bush's successor to take over in January next year,
as the next US president might offer it a better deal. For Iran,
the United States is struggling to keep international unity on new
sanctions on the Islamic country.
On the Middle East peace process, although Bush helped revive
the peace process and visited the region about three weeks ago, the
hope to create a Palestinian state by late 2008 still hangs in
balance.
The scope of Bush's challenge was underscored by a recent
Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this month, which showed
Bush's overall approval rating at 32 percent, the lowest ever, with
30 percent of the public approving his handling of Iraq. His
handling of the economy rated even worse, with 28 percent approval
compared with 41 percent a year ago.
Therefore, deeply unpopular Bush faces a steep challenge in
persuading Americans to heed his State of the Union address on the
war, economic policy or any other issues, the Washington
Post report said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2008)
