Bush: "America Must Not Fail In Iraq"

Facing Skeptical Nation, President To Tout His War Plan In State Of The Union Speech

(CBS/AP)  President Bush, confronting a skeptical Congress and American public, will seek to deflate strong opposition Tuesday to sending more troops to the war, asserting that "America must not fail in Iraq" and his plan offers the best chance of success.

Facing a major political showdown over his policy, Bush said in remarks prepared for tonight's annual State of the Union address that "the consequences of failure would be grievous and far reaching."

With debate over the Iraq war sending Republicans scurrying away from the president and his job approval rating at a new low of 28 percent in the latest CBS News poll, Mr. Bush's overall agenda for the speech was twofold: present himself as a leader with a sincere desire to work across party lines on practical solutions and pressure Democratic leaders to either go along or offer viable alternatives.

Mr. Bush will seek to revive his troubled presidency with proposals to expand health insurance coverage and slash gasoline consumption.

But the elephant in the room is still the Iraq war, CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante said. By a wide margin, Americans say the war is the most important problem facing the nation and 75 percent say it's going badly – almost as many as say Mr. Bush has no clear plan.

CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer said he's not sure there's anything the president can do Tuesday night to gain traction for his agenda.

"It makes no difference, really, what he talks about. He could talk about monkeys in space. What people sitting out there on the floor of the House of Representatives are thinking about is Iraq," Schieffer said.

"He has got to get something going tonight, but I want to tell you, he's got his work cut out for him."

The president's speech will come as key Republicans joined Democrats in drafting resolutions of opposition to the plans Mr. Bush announced two weeks ago to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

Mr. Bush will say that he has reviewed the decision with military commanders and has considered every possible approach. "In the end I chose this course of action because it provides the best chance of success," he will say. "Many in this chamber understand that America must not fail in Iraq — because you understand that the consequences of failure would be grievous and far reaching."

Despite widespread opposition to his policies, Bush will say that "both parties and both branches should work in close consultation."

A year after telling America it was addicted to oil, the president will propose a new "20 in 10" energy plan that would dramatically cut gasoline consumption in the next decade, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Mr. Bush will say that the fuel-use goal can be achieved primarily through a sharp escalation in the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels that the federal government mandates must be produced. The rest of the reduction is to come from raising fuel economy standards for passenger cars, White House deputy chief of staff Joel Kaplan told reporters in a briefing before Mr. Bush's speech tonight.

Also in the energy arena, the president is asking Congress to double the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. A protection against emergency oil market disruptions, the reserve can now hold about 727 million barrels, and Congress has authorized it to go to 1 billion. Mr. Bush wants its capacity increased further, to 1.5 billion barrels.

The president also has a new health care proposal that would combine tax cuts for some and tax hikes for others to make health insurance more widely available, Axelrod reports.

President Bush's State of the Union address will begin Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. EST, and will be carried live by CBS News.

[tanstaafl28]

President Bush needs to stop pushing military solutions in an area already saturated by conflict. After all the "expert advice," he still goes and makes the wrong decision, that's how he failed in business. Now he's looking at more than bankruptcy, he's playing with people's lives. Congress had better step up to the plate and do the right thing, because Bush apparently cannot.