Rod Paige Criticizes Teachers Union

"I fully understand it's going to be the year of the sharp elbow and the quick tongue," Bush said. "But surely we can shuffle that aside sometimes and focus on our people."

"We'll continue to work hard to help you. Because by helping our governors, we really help our people," he said.

Bush spent much of the first half of his opening comments on foreign policy and the war on terrorism, defending his decision to go war in Iraq and thanking the governors for their work on homeland security.

"The most important job of anyone in public office is to protect the people of our country," he said.

Bush also defended his domestic policies, telling the governors that he strongly believed in his education law and that the tax cuts he championed were helping spur the economy.

The governors are in Washington for four days of discussions at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association, though the usual effort to build consensus was marked by partisan politics that Democrats said couldn't be avoided.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said he planned to confront Bush on White House predictions of 2.6 million new jobs this year. Bush spokesmen already have backed off those numbers.

"If the president's not going to fight for jobs, governors will, Democratic governors will," Vilsack said. "We're on the front line of that fight every day, and we see the consequences of having lost three million jobs."