Is Anyone Listening?

"'What can he say after seven years?' Leland asked. 'He's got to be the worst president ever. . . . If he just said, "I'm out of here," he would probably get the highest rankings of his administration.'"

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "For the first time in four years, he will come before Congress able to report some progress in tamping down violence in Iraq. Yet the public appears to have moved on from the war -- and possibly from Bush himself.

"The economy has supplanted Iraq as the top public concern, and with voters shifting their focus toward the presidential primaries, Bush faces a steep challenge in persuading Americans to heed his words on the war, economic policy or any other issue, according to administration officials, lawmakers and outside observers."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "With polls showing that the economy has eclipsed Iraq on Americans' list of most pressing concerns, Mr. Bush faces the unwelcome prospect that his legacy -- which the White House always assumed would be wrapped up in the war -- will be wrapped up in hard times instead. Like his father, he risks leaving office on an economic sour note, with a reputation for spending so much time worrying about foreign affairs that he forgot about the problems of ordinary Americans at home."

John D. McKinnon, Alex Frangos and Elizabeth Holmes write in the Wall Street Journal: "President Bush often has told aides that in the short run, history always gets it wrong. Tonight he is to give his final State of the Union speech, hoping to prove himself right -- and begin changing the public's current judgment of his legacy.

"With Mr. Bush's approval ratings near record lows, many Americans likely have tuned him out already."

Catherine Dodge and Hans Nichols write for Bloomberg: "George W. Bush, struggling to stay relevant in the twilight of his presidency, delivers his final State of the Union speech tonight with an urgent new mission: heading off a U.S. recession. . . .

"'Normally, these State of the Union speeches can be pretty drab,' [Leon Panetta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton] says. Tonight's address is different because the 'the country is in deep economic crisis' and Americans are looking for answers from their political leaders. . . .

"It remains to be seen whether Bush's speech tonight, along with his current burst of economic activism, will improve his tarnished crisis-management reputation following his response to Hurricane Katrina or reverse the widespread perception that his economic policies are out of touch with the needs of average working Americans.

"Fred Greenstein, a presidential scholar and emeritus professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, says while a crisis poses an opportunity for even a weakened leader, the question for Bush remains whether he can 'provide a capstone to his presidency that will give the obituaries a more positive tone than just, "This is the guy who got us in a horrible mess."'"

Earmark Watch

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush took on Congress today over its appetite for special spending projects, announcing a new strategy of vetoes and executive action to cut the number of so-called earmarks in half during his final year in office and to open the rest to more scrutiny and debate.

"A spokeswoman who previewed Bush's State of the Union address tonight said the president has vowed to veto any spending bills for the 2009 fiscal year that do not cut the number of earmarks in half and said he will order agencies to ignore any projects listed in conference reports rather than in legislation.