(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-29 11:46

His speech came hours before Florida's presidential primary election and just eight days before Super Tuesday when voters in more than 20 states go to the polls on the biggest day of the primary campaign. Republicans running for president rarely mention Bush, preferring to focus on conservative hero Ronald Reagan instead. Bush will turn from Monday's speech and plunge into politics, raising money for Republicans from Wednesday through Friday at events in California, Nevada, Colorado and Missouri, sandwiched around other appearances to tout themes from his speech.

As for the Democrats, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said, "Tonight is a red-letter night in American history. It is the last time George Bush will give the State of the Union. Next year it will be a Democratic president giving it."

Bush, calling for bipartisan cooperation in Congress, said, "Let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time."

In Iraq, he said, US adversaries have been hit hard, though "they are not yet defeated and we can still expect tough fighting ahead."

The address came one year after Bush, defying the wishes of Congress and rising anti-war sentiment in the country, ordered a major troop buildup in Iraq. The increase has helped quell violence, but there is no end in sight to the US troop commitment, which Bush says will extend beyond his presidency. There are 158,000 US troops in Iraq, a number that is expected to drop to 135,000 by July. There are 28,000 in Afghanistan, the highest number of the war, which began there in October 2001. The Iraq war began in March 2003.

Bush did not announce any troop withdrawals Monday night. The White House said that would depend on the advice of Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Baghdad. Congress, despite repeated attempts, has been unable to force troop withdrawals or deadlines for pullbacks, and Iraq has receded as an issue in Washington.

Reviving a theme from his trip to the Mideast this month, Bush called on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment that the White House says could easily be transferred to a nuclear weapons program. A recent US intelligence report concluded Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, but Bush says it could be restarted easily.

On the economy, Bush boasted 12 months ago about unemployment. Now the jobless rate has climbed to a two-year high and the nation is sagging toward recession amid turmoil in housing and financial markets. The economy is No. 1 on the US worry list.

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