Bush's 'Total Confidence'

They also "want to act as though there's no threat and we don't need to take these important measures."

Cheney expressed total confidence that those who want Congress to stand up to the president will fail once again: "Well, I think the fact of the matter is at this point, they don't have the votes; that is, I don't think they can prevail."

So, what's with the 15-day delay supported by Democratic leaders? "[T]hey want more time to let the opponents sort of air their grievances and probably vote on some more amendments before we go to final passage."

Rove and 9/11

Washington DeCoded blogger Max Holland writes: "In a revelation bound to cast a pall over the 9/11 Commission, Philip Shenon will report in a forthcoming book that the panel's executive director, Philip Zelikow, engaged in 'surreptitious' communications with presidential adviser Karl Rove and other Bush administration officials during the commission's 20-month investigation into the 9/11 attacks.

"Shenon, who led The New York Times' coverage of the 9/11 panel, reveals the Zelikow-Rove connection in a new book entitled The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, to be published next month by Twelve books. The Commission is under an embargo until its February 5 publication, but Washington DeCoded managed to purchase a copy of the abridged audio version from a New York bookstore. . . .

"[Shenon] depicts Zelikow as exploiting his central position to negate or neutralize criticism of the Bush administration so that the White House would not bear, in November 2004, the political burden of failing to prevent the attacks."

Holland writes that Zelikow failed to disclose several egregious conflicts of interest, "among them, the fact that he had been a member of [Condoleezza] Rice's [National Security Council] transition team in 2000-01. In that capacity, Zelikow had been the 'architect' responsible for demoting Richard Clarke and his counter-terrorism team within the NSC. As Shenon puts it, Zelikow 'had laid the groundwork for much of went wrong at the White House in the weeks and months before September 11. Would he want people to know that?'"

Justin Rood blogs for ABC News that Holland's post was "generally confirmed by the book's publisher" but notes that in an interview, "Zelikow flatly denied discussing the commission's work with Rove. 'I never discussed the 9/11 Commission with him, not at all. Period.'"

Budget Watch

Robert Pear writes in the New York Times: "In his new budget, to be unveiled Monday, President Bush will call for large cuts in the growth of Medicare, far exceeding what he proposed last year, and he will again seek major savings in Medicaid, according to administration officials and budget documents."

The two programs would see their spending cut by more than 10 percent.

"Most of the Medicare savings in the budget would be achieved by reducing the annual update in federal payments to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, ambulances and home care agencies," Pear writes.

"The budget would not touch payments to insurance companies for private Medicare Advantage plans, even though many Democrats and independent experts say those plans are overpaid."

For comparison purposes, the $6.2 billion Bush would cut from these health programs for the old and poor is about equal what the government spends in Iraq over 22 days -- for combat operations alone.

Andrew Taylor writes for the Associated Press: "The budget President Bush unveils on Monday is likely to feature deficits reaching $400 billion this year and next, leaving his successor a fiscal ledger dripping with red ink."

Bush Out West

Ben Feller writes for the Associated Press: "Sandwiching a war speech in between Republican fundraisers, President Bush is making clear that his priority is to keep Iraq secure, not just to get troops home.

"His Iraq update here on Thursday is tucked into an agenda of political events across four states. The private affairs will raise $4.7 million for his party by week's end. . . .

"'You'll see him doing a lot of this,' White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. 'This will be, I think, a very successful trip, in terms of raising money. The president has far more requests for fundraising stops than we can possibly fill.'"

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post from California: "Bush acknowledged signs that the U.S. economy is slowing but maintained his bullish long-term perspective, refusing again to cite the possibility of a recession."

From Bush's remarks: "I hope you're confident about our economy. I am. We've got some short-term issues to deal with. Fourth quarter growth slowed to .6 percent. In other words, there are signs that our economy are slowing. There's some uncertainty in the economy. But in the long run you've got to be confident about your economy."

Greg Hitt writes in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) about his interview with Bush yesterday, largely about the value of trade: "Bush stressed that American exporters -- among the strongest performers in the shaky economic environment -- would benefit from approval of the rest of his trade agenda, which includes proposed deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, the world's 10th-largest economy."

John Wildermuth writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Bush kept intact his record of never visiting San Francisco during his presidency. Instead, he flew into San Francisco International Airport late in the afternoon and went by motorcade to Hillsborough, where he dropped by a dinner for the Republican National Committee."

Brendan Buhler writes in his Las Vegas Sun opinion column: "After seven years, it's come to this.

"When the president of the United States -- the leader of the free world, the guy with the nuclear football doohickey and therefore the power to end human if not cockroach civilization -- comes to town today to update Las Vegas on the war on terrorism, he will not be standing in a stadium, behind a church pulpit or in a rugged pose in front of Red Rock. Not even in a high school auditorium.

"No, the president will be at the back of an office park overlooking a rock quarry and snake habitat disguised as an expensive golf course named Badlands. He'll be giving his speech on The Global War on Terror to a conservative education think thank that was last in the news because it announced the results of a poll in which people said teachers were overpaid.

"He'll be in a hall usually rented out for weddings and corporate events, a building with a Miami Beach-chic-meets-Orange County-pretentious architecture."

Bloch Watch

Glenn Kessler writes in The Washington Post: "The federal investigator who is probing possible White House misconduct and who himself is under investigation over alleged wrongdoing in his office is now accusing another investigator of trying to thwart his probes.

"Scott J. Bloch, head of an obscure agency charged with protecting the rights of federal workers, sent a five-page letter last week to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey complaining that his agency, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, had been asked to step aside from an investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys until internal Justice Department probes into those firings are completed.

"Bloch wrote that months might pass before that happens, pushing his agency's role 'into the very last months of the administration when there is little hope of any corrective measures or discipline possible.'"

SOTU Watch

The St. Petersburg Times editorial board writes: "George W. Bush's rhetoric in his final State of the Union speech didn't match the reality of the past seven years. One of his best lines was this one: 'History will record that amid our differences, we acted with purpose.' If it were so, four out of five Americans wouldn't believe the country is headed in the wrong direction."

James Fallows continues his tradition of annotating the State of the Union for the Atlantic. He writes: "Only three times in the last 50-plus years has a president given a final State of the Union address knowing, in the way Bush did, that it was his final address. . . .

"On those three previous occasions -- Ike '60, Reagan '88, Clinton '00 -- the presidents appeared to be trying for something a little different from the standard State of the Union blather of legislative ambitions and topic-sentence comments about the world. . . . [T]hey were quite consciously designed to steer the historians in the right direction in their understanding of the era coming to its end. . . .

"Bush didn't even try."

Signing Statements Watch

The Roanoke Times editorial board writes: "An honorable president would have the gumption to veto bills he found objectionable. But as Americans have learned by now, there is no room for honor in President Bush's Oval Office.

"He prefers chicanery in the form of 'signing statements.'

"Prior to delivering the State of the Union Address on Monday, Bush eviscerated four key provisions of the new defense bill by saying he will ignore parts of the law he doesn't like. . . .

"No American should be able to ignore the law without consequence. Not even a president."

Kevin Drum blogs for Washington Monthly: "As recently as a year ago the White House at least acknowledged that Congress had the power to defund military activities if it wished. In fact, their argument, essentially, was that funding was pretty much the only power Congress had over military and foreign policy. Now, apparently, they think Congress doesn't even have that."

For more, see yesterday's column.

Iraq Watch

Thomas E. Ricks writes in The Washington Post from Baghdad: "Senior U.S. military commanders here say they want to freeze troop reductions starting this summer for at least a month, making it more likely that the next administration will inherit as many troops in Iraq as there were before President Bush announced a 'surge' of forces a year ago. . . .

"Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, will probably argue for what the military calls an operational 'pause' at his next round of congressional testimony, expected in early April, another senior U.S. military official here said. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and top military officers have said they would like to see continued withdrawals throughout this year, but Bush has indicated he is likely to be guided by Petraeus's views. . . .

"Privately, White House advisers say Bush is loath to do anything that would jeopardize what he sees as hard-won security gains and predict he would be very receptive to any go-slow suggestion from Petraeus."

Afghanistan Watch

Peter Spiegel writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The international effort to stabilize Afghanistan is faltering and urgently needs thousands of additional U.S. and coalition troops, an influential group of American diplomatic and military experts concluded in a report issued Wednesday.

"The independent study finds that the Taliban, which two years ago was largely viewed as a defeated movement, has been able to infiltrate and control sizable parts of southern and southeastern Afghanistan, leading to widespread disillusionment among Afghans with the mission. . . .

"The report is critical of nearly every governmental and international organization involved in Afghanistan, including the Bush administration, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, calling their efforts inadequate, poorly coordinated and occasionally self-defeating."

The Lessons of War

When does a war intended as a display of strength actually demonstrate weakness? The answer appears to be: the 21st century.

Israel's war in Lebanon got remarkably little attention in this country, considering how it never would have happened without Bush's approval and how damaging it was to the people of Lebanon. Now there's evidence that it wasn't good for Israel either.

Ellen Knickmeyer writes in The Washington Post: "Israel's inconclusive 33-day war with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon undermined the military deterrence Israelis consider indispensable to their survival, a government-appointed panel concluded Wednesday in its final report."

The war "'was a big and serious failure' for Israel, Eliyahu Winograd, the retired judge who led the committee, told reporters."

Coming to YouTube?

The Associated Press reports: "Secret Service agents and aides to Vice President Cheney who gave statements for a Colorado lawsuit have asked a judge not to release videos of their testimony, saying they might wind up on YouTube or 'Comedy Central.'

"The arguments Wednesday came as a federal magistrate ordered the government to present its reasons why Cheney should not be subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit by a Denver-area man who claims comments he made to the vice president about the Iraq war led to his arrest in June 2006."

Late Night Humor

David Letterman on the State of the Union.

Cartoon Watch

Jeff Danziger on the GOP view of Bush; Daniel Wasserman on Bush's economy; Nick Anderson on the desire for change; Chip Bok on Bush and earmarks.