Critics rave, boo after speech
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Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Tom Daschle delivered the Democratic response to the State of the Union address.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said Tuesday that President Bush's State of the Union message was "big, strong and confident" even as he acknowledged the speech "didn't have a lot of big new proposals."
Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, described the speech as "basically the same kind of rhetoric we've heard in the past."
Rep. Tom DeLay, the House Republican leader from Texas, said Bush proved himself a "strong moral leader" who "set an optimistic agenda for the nation."
Longtime Bush adviser Karen Hughes called the speech "a chance to look back and think of all we've been through. It's been a remarkable three years in our history."
But Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of California, an intelligence committee member, said there were "big gaps" when it came to explaining why weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq.
The reactions followed the president's annual address to Congress, his final State of the Union speech before the fall election.
"Instead of a State of the Union address, the president kicked off his re-election campaign," former Clinton advisor and current Illinois Democratic congressman Rahm Emanuel said. "His speech was long on rhetoric and short on resources."
Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott praised the president's proposal to increase funding to community colleges to help train workers for high-technology jobs.
"I'm especially enthused that he's ready to tap the resources of our nation's -- including Mississippi's -- extensive community college system to teach the skills and trades Americans need to get good jobs."
In a news release issued before the speech, Lott saluted Bush for using the nationally televised address to promote his recently announced proposal to send men to the moon and then to Mars. However, discussion of the proposal, which never got much more that a lukewarm reception on Capitol Hill, never made it into the speech.
From the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Sen. John Kerry, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said the Bush administration has failed to create new jobs.
"Last month the goal of this administration was to create 250,000 jobs. They created 1,000 jobs -- 249,000 short," Kerry said. "A lot of people have even left the market and aren't measured anymore as the unemployed because they're not trying to find jobs. I don't think the president laid the agenda that gets America moving again tonight."
"Hardworking Americans will see through this president's effort to wrap his radical agenda with a compassionate ribbon," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the third-place finisher in the Iowa caucuses, told The Associated Press.
"It's all smoke and mirrors designed to hide the stark fact that he has no real plan for our future," retired Gen. Wesley Clark, also in the Democratic presidential race, told AP.
The Bush speech was interrupted by applause 67 times. Sometimes Republicans and Democrats clapped together. Other times, Republicans clapped alone.
Some of the loudest GOP applause followed Bush's pledge to make recently enacted tax cuts permanent.
Possibly the most muted came when he asked Congress to pass his immigration initiative, which many Republicans have dismissed as an unwanted amnesty program for illegal aliens.
Frist credited Bush for "not walking away from any issues, even the immigration issue, an issue that's been received sort of mixed by both Republicans and Democrats, he came right back and hit it directly."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called Bush's proposed temporary worker plan incomplete.
"I think he made a positive step in moving forward with a plan that at least addresses Social Security and worker benefits," said the nation's only Hispanic governor, who made a Democratic response speech in Spanish. "But it doesn't go far enough; It doesn't promise after three years legalization or a green card."
How Bush addressed the dispute over same-sex marriage also drew praise from Republicans.
"The whole issue surrounding marriage, he hit it directly, he didn't shy away from anything tonight," Frist said. "That leadership, boldness, calling it like it is ultimately, I think, will decide this presidential race."
Hughes also praised the president for advocating more drug testing in schools and increasing funding for programs that promote abstinence to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.
"As a mom, I also have to say I really appreciated his leadership on helping teach our kids to make the right choices, because it really takes all of us," Hughes said. "And it's wonderful to know government is going to be a partner with parents in helping our children to make the right choices on critical issues that could threaten their whole lives."
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has voted with Bush on some issues, said she "was a little disappointed."
"I had hoped he was going to reach out and bring us together," she said. "I thought the speech was thin on domestic policy."
In particular, she said his proposals on increasing access to health care were "disjointed" and "didn't work together as a program."
Harman criticized the president for describing passage of the Medicare bill last year as a bipartisan effort.
"That was the most partisan exercise I've ever seen," she said. "I don't think it was a speech that really welcomed Democrats as problem solvers for 2004."
Defending the president, Virginia Sen. John Warner spoke for many Republicans: "Any fair-minded American knows that he, in his heart, wants to lead, make the tough decisions and protect America and let the future generations have what we had."
CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
