With support gone, Bush stumbles on

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush, in the most difficult State of the Union of his presidency, attempted Tuesday night to convince Congress and the American people that he is still relevant. It was a tough sell.

The president faced not only the new majority of Democrats, who are feisty and belligerent, but the new minority of congressional Republicans, who are in a state of panic over the state of their party. They did not expect much of a lift from their president, and they did not get one.

Bush's strategy was to delay any mention of the war against terrorism until 23 minutes into a 50-minute speech. That brought him to Iraq, an issue where he steadily has been losing support.

These proposals had been crafted by the president's bureaucracy, and they did not stir lawmakers on either side of the aisle. In the Democratic-controlled Congress, the proposals have no practical chance of success, though the president intended his program to be "non-confrontational" and perhaps acceptable to some Democrats.

When Bush got around to Iraq specifically, it was an anticlimax because of his speech on that crisis a week earlier. This time, he warned of dire consequences of failure and pleaded with Congress for his "new strategy" in Iraq: "I ask you to give it a chance to work." He was able to discuss Iraq without being interrupted by applause. On the day of this speech, the president's agents were trying desperately -- and unsuccessfully -- to stave off a bipartisan Senate resolution going on record against that strategy.

Bush is not a president capable of reaching oratorical heights, and he did not even try. His speechwriters did not even attempt any oratorical stunts, such as his 2002 declaration of war against the "axis of evil."

The president neither made any concessions that might win over a few Democrats nor dwelled on issues dear to the hearts of his conservative base. The only red-meat conservative issue thrown out by Bush was his very polite scolding of the Senate to bring to up-or-down confirmation votes his nominees for the federal judiciary. He did pledge a balanced budget and spending control, issues that led to voter defections from the Republicans in the last election.

Although this was a long and far-reaching State of the Union, it was also notable for what it did not contain:

• Having made a calculated decision to save his talk about economic issues for a separate speech next week, Bush mentioned only in passing the need to maintain his tax cuts as the bulwark of the economy.

• Bush ignored the social issues dear to his conservative base. He did not mention abortion on the day after the annual "march for life" on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. He did not mention the stem cell research bill that he vetoed last year and is likely to veto again in the new Congress. He made no mention of same-sex marriage.

• Although exit polls show corruption was a major issue in the 2006 elections, Bush ignored congressional ethics except for his call to halve the spending created by congressional earmarks -- the first time he had raised that issue.

• Social Security reform and tax reform, his two major domestic initiatives announced after his 2004 re-election, were all but ignored (though they are likely to come up in his coming economic speech).

It was not a stirring or a memorable State of the Union. Everybody seemed happy to get it over with. At least, it did not cause more trouble for a president sinking in the polls.