Comparative excerpts from State of the Union speeches by Bush from 2002-2007
Economy 2002 - "Once we have funded our national security and our homeland security, the final great priority of my budget is economic security for the American people. To achieve these great national objectives -- to win the war, protect the homeland and revitalize our economy -- our budget will run a deficit that will be small and short term so long as Congress restrains spending and acts in a fiscally responsible way."
2003 - "Our first goal is clear: We must have an economy that grows fast enough to employ every man and woman who seeks a job."
2004 - "In these last three years, adversity has also revealed the fundamental strengths of the American economy. We have come through recession, and terrorist attack, and corporate scandals, and the uncertainties of war. And because you acted to stimulate our economy with tax relief, this economy is strong, and growing stronger."
2005 - "First, we must be good stewards of this economy, and renew the great institutions on which millions of our fellow citizens rely.America's economy is the fastest growing of any major industrialized nation."
2006 - "Here at home, America also has a great opportunity: We will build the prosperity of our country by strengthening our economic leadership in the world.Our economy is healthy and vigorous and growing faster than other major industrialized nations."
2007 - "A future of hope and opportunity begins with a growing economy - and that is what we have."
Health Care 2002 - "I ask Congress to join me this year to enact a Patients' Bill of Rights to give uninsured workers credits to help buy health coverage, to approve an historic increase in spending for veterans' health and to give seniors a sound and modern Medicare system that includes coverage for prescription drugs"
2003 - "Our second goal is high quality, affordable health for all Americans."
2004 - "Our nation's health care system, like our economy, is also in a time of change... Members of Congress, we must work together to help control those costs and extend the benefits of modern medicine throughout our country."
2005 - "To make our economy stronger and more productive, we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage, and more control over their health decisions."
2006 - "Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our government has a responsibility to help provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility."
2007 - "A future of hope and opportunity requires that all our citizens have affordable and available health-care. When it comes to health-care, government has an obligation to care for the elderly, the disabled, and poor children. We will meet those responsibilities."
Energy 2002 - "Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil."
2003 - "Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment. "
2004 - "Our agenda for jobs and growth must help small business owners and employees with relief from needless federal regulation, and protect them from junk and frivolous lawsuits. Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy to make our economy run so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy."
2005 - "To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy. Nearly four years ago, I submitted a comprehensive energy strategy that encourages conservation, alternative sources, a modernized electricity grid, and more production here at home, including safe, clean nuclear energy"
2006 - "Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. Here we have a serious problem: 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. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper, more reliable alternative energy sources -- and we are on the threshold of incredible advances"
2007 - "Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy that keeps America's economy running and America's environment clean."
Security 2002 - "And tonight, thanks to them, we are winning the war on terror."
2003 - "There are days when our fellow citizens do not hear news about the war on terror. There's never a day when I do not learn of another threat, or receive reports of operations in progress or give an order in this global war against a scattered network of killers.
The war goes on, and we are winning. "
2004 - (WOT) - "Our greatest responsibility is the active defense of the American people."
2005 - (WOT) - "Our third responsibility to future generations is to leave them an America that is safe from danger, and protected by peace. We will pass along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief among them is freedom from fear."
2006 - "In a time of testing, we cannot find security by abandoning our commitments and retreating within our borders. If we were to leave these vicious attackers alone, they would not leave us alone. They would simply move the battlefield to our own shores....So to prevent another attack -- based on authority given to me by the Constitution and by statute -- I have authorized a terrorist surveillance program to aggressively pursue the international communications of suspected al Qaeda operatives and affiliates to and from America. "
2007 - "For all of us in this room, there is no higher responsibility than to protect the people of this country from danger. Five years have come and gone since we saw the scenes and felt the sorrow that terrorists can cause."
Iraq 2002 - "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror."
2003 - "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
2004 - "Having broken the Baathist regime, we face a remnant of violent Saddam supporters."
2005 - "We will succeed in Iraq because Iraqis are determined to fight for their own freedom, and to write their own history. As Prime Minister Allawi said in his speech to Congress last September, "Ordinary Iraqis are anxious ... to shoulder all the security burdens of our country as quickly as possible." That is the natural desire of an independent nation, and it also is the stated mission of our coalition in Iraq."
2006 - "And we are on the offensive in Iraq, with a clear plan for victory."
2007 - "This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in. Every one of us wishes that this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk. Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory."
Social Security2002 - "Retirement security also depends upon keeping the commitments of Social Security, and we will. We must make Social Security financially stable and allow personal retirement accounts for younger workers who choose them."
2003 - "A growing economy and a focus on essential priorities will be crucial to the future of Social Security. As we continue to work together to keep Social Security sound and reliable, we must offer younger workers a chance to invest in retirement accounts that they will control and they will own."
2004 - " Younger workers should have the opportunity to build a nest egg by saving part of their Social Security taxes in a personal retirement account. We should make the Social Security system a source of ownership for the American people."
2005 - "One of America's most important institutions -- a symbol of the trust between generations -- is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th century, and we must honor its great purposes in this new century. The system, however, on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. And so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security."
2006 - "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security...
So tonight, I ask you to join me in creating a commission to examine the full impact of baby boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This commission should include members of Congress of both parties, and offer bipartisan answers. We need to put aside partisan politics, work together, and get this problem solved."
2007 - "So let us work together and do it now. With enough good sense and good will, you and I can fix Medicare and Medicaid - and save Social Security."
There are more - NCLB (Education), his introductions, and his calls for bi-partisanship (you know, do what I want = bi-partisanship.) etc.
Reference links:
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