Aides: Bush to tout efforts on war, economy
State of the Union will be 'forward-looking speech,' official says
From John King
CNN Washington Bureau
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President Bush delivers his State of the Union speech last year.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senior administration officials said President Bush is set to deliver an "optimistic" State of the Union speech, making the case that his policies are key to success in the war on terrorism and the effort to revive the economy.
White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said the State of the Union "will be a forward-looking speech but also one that takes stock of our accomplishments."
A senior official said Bush will speak passionately Tuesday night about his decision to invade Iraq and make clear he is proud of the move and the skill, courage and sacrifices made fighting the war.
Mindful of the election year, the address will attempt to make the case that the administration has made progress on the war on terrorism and that the United States needs to "stay on the trajectory of peace and prosperity and security," said a senior official briefing reporters.
But the speech will highlight that the terrorist threat to the United States remains real, the official said.
Bush also will argue that it is critical to "stay on the path of economic growth" as the economy is "fighting its way out of recessions" and into recovery, the senior official said.
Bush will urge Congress to make permanent the 10-year tax cuts passed over the last three years and also push to revive debate on a number of other domestic proposals, including:
• Worker investment of part of their Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market and other private investment accounts. (Full story)
• A plan for a temporary guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants with U.S. jobs to get temporary legal status in the United States. (Full story)
• Planned programs the administration says are designed to help reduce health-care costs.
Official: No sensitive passage involving intelligence
The senior official rejected the suggestion voiced by several Democratic lawmakers that Bush owes the American people an explanation about the intelligence he used to make the case for war in Iraq. (Full story)
The Bush administration maintains Saddam Hussein's Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, though the U.S. effort to find such programs has not yielded anything major so far.
In last year's State of the Union speech, Bush claimed Saddam had tried to buy uranium in Africa to revive his nuclear weapons program. The White House later admitted intelligence was too weak to support the assertion. (Full story)
The senior official who briefed reporters Friday would not offer details about how the screening of information was changed for this year's address. But another official said there "was obviously a lesson learned."
This official said he did not anticipate any sensitive passages dealing with intelligence in this year's speech.
Bush met with top aides Friday for a speech-editing session in the Oval Office. The address is expected to last a little less than an hour. Bush and top aides will work on continued edits this weekend at Camp David, Maryland, before the president holds his first formal practice Sunday afternoon at the White House.
Aides said they began discussing the speech in late October and then met with the president in mid-November to give an overview of the address' major themes.
Bush was given a detailed outline before Christmas, and drafts have been passing back and forth for weeks now.
