Bush’s State of the Union track record
From The Wall Street Journal:
2006: Iraq, energy, health care
On Iraq: “Fellow citizens, we are in this fight to win, and we are winning. The road of victory is the road that will take our troops home. As we make progress on the ground, and Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead, we should be able to further decrease our troop levels.”
[2006]After perhaps the bloodiest year for both American troops and Iraqis since the 2003 invasion, the strategy in Iraq has shifted dramatically — as has the language used to discuss the conflict. “Stay the course” is out, while “the way forward” is in.
Support among Americans and their representatives in Congress hit lows as the country spiraled toward a sectarian civil war and kidnappings and killings made daily headlines. Just after the midterm elections, in which voter anger about the war helped Democrats retake control of the House and Senate, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was pushed out. The Iraq Study Group report, released in December, provided both a searing critique of the administration’s policies and a bleak picture of how bad the situation really is. Conceding in an address earlier this month,”Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me,” Mr. Bush acknowledged a litany of American failures and announced plans to send at least 20,000 more troops to Iraq.
On energy: “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants; revolutionary solar and wind technologies; and clean, safe nuclear energy. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen.”While Mr. Bush has talked a great deal in recent months about cleaner energies and finding alternatives to oil, he continues to be widely criticized by environmentalists for failing to back his rhetoric with enough government action — either increasing spending or instituting tougher regulations to cut pollution. His resistance in particular to federal limits on greenhouse gases has left him at odds with some business leaders who have come to endorse stronger federal action. The CEOs of General Motors, Ford Motor and DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler Group pledged after an autumn meeting with Mr. Bush to make 50% of their new vehicles capable of running on alternative fuel by 2012. With Democrats in control of Congress, energy and environmental initiatives are gaining speed. The administration also is offering incentives for technological innovation — instead of stepping up regulation and mandating caps — to reduce overall carbon-dioxide emissions. In December, officials awarded $1 billion in tax credits to nine companies to develop cleaner coal-burning power plants around the U.S.
On health care: “For all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care… and help people afford the insurance coverage they need. We will strengthen health savings accounts — by making sure individuals and small business employees can buy insurance with the same advantages that people working for big businesses now get.”
Early in 2006, health care was at the top of the president’s domestic agenda, as evidenced by a spate of speeches. His health-care proposals included providing bigger tax breaks for health-savings accounts, or HSAs, and making hospitals’ and doctors’ prices available to consumers. The president has followed through on both. In August, Mr. Bush issued an executive order requiring federal agencies to disclose the quality and cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries, federal employees, the military and veterans — a group that includes one-fourth of all Americans. And in December, he signed a bill that increased the tax-free contributions many people are allowed to make each year to their HSAs. Still, with these changes attracting little attention, the president is expected to propose further and more dramatic changes in his last two years in office, such as a tax code change making it easier for consumers to buy health care on the open market, instead of relying on employers for coverage.
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