Bush calls for an optimistic America

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President Bush last night implored an unsettled nation to reject the idea that "our culture is doomed to unravel" and used his fifth State of the Union address to promise an end to America's oil "addiction."

Addressing a joint session of Congress just hours after the swearing-in of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Mr. Bush said the bitter partisanship that has cleaved the two parties is leading to a defeatism that endangers the nation.

"As we look at these challenges, we must never give in to the belief that America is in decline, or that our culture is doomed to unravel," he said. "The American people know better than that. We have proven the pessimists wrong before -- and we will do it again."

In a 53-minute speech that was markedly scaled down from last year's State of the Union, in which he called in vain for Social Security reform, the president nonetheless sought to stir the national spirit to action.

But Democrats taunted him on that very topic by cheering and applauding when Mr. Bush noted that "Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, smiling triumphantly, was among those who stood to celebrate this failure of the president, who responded by raising his voice and wagging his finger sternly.

"Yet the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away," he scolded. "And with every year we fail to act, the situation gets worse."

He vowed to continue his aggressive prosecution of the war on terror, improve health care, and move forward with a compassionate conservatism that he said is transforming America. He also paid tribute to civil rights icon Coretta Scott King, who died yesterday.