Word: speechings
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...theme of the speech is, "Trusting and empowering people to make decisions for themselves," says White House spokesperson Dana Perino. Bush first brought the idea of a grand summation of his presidency to his speechwriters last April, she says, and they began working on it in December as a way of carrying his last to-do list in the State of the Union speech. The theme is intended to unite Bush's domestic agenda items (making his tax breaks permanent and boosting the economy) with foreign priorities (pursuing the war in Iraq, peacemaking and boosting foreign aid) under the banner...
Outside the White House, few care much about Bush's legacy these days, no matter how it's packaged. Democrats and Republicans are paying attention to the speech only for whether it affects their electoral races. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "pre-buttal" Friday didn't even mention Bush by name, while Senate majority leader Harry Reid's spokesman Jim Manley says the speech is "just a sideshow" that "helps to highlight how irrelevant the President...
Republicans like the timing of the speech. Bush will beat up on Democrats over stalled domestic eavesdropping legislation and tout a bipartisan stimulus package he helped negotiate - both issues are vote winners for G.O.P. candidates. Beyond that, they're happy if he catches a few spears for them. Says one senior G.O.P. Hill aide: "If [the Democrats]want to spend resources attacking a President who won't be on the ballot, great." Neither party on the Hill expects Bush to have a big impact before he leaves office...
...seems to have dispensed with every attack line against you in the space of one fairly short speech...
...little bit. That was powerful stuff. When you see Ted, Caroline, Patrick together, and I think about the role they played in shaping my values and ideals and what I believe about America, the connection to my father traveling to Hawaii and meeting my mother [He described in his speech how his father had come to America in part because of a program for Kenyan students that had been championed by the Kennedys.] As I said, it brings things full circle...