Upbeat Tone Belies Downside Risks (washingtonpost.com): "Bush had little new to offer on why bringing stability to postwar Iraq has been so difficult or why his tax cuts have not done more to turn around an economy that has been losing jobs since the beginning of his presidency. Nor did he have new initiatives, policies or proposals. He spoke for nearly an hour in the White House Rose Garden, and for the most part, it was a pep talk designed to tamp down criticism from his opponents.
His most newsworthy statement was to take responsibility for the section of his State of the Union address alleging that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa, which his own intelligence agency said was based on unreliable information. 'I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course,' he said. 'Absolutely.'
...With that answer, Bush tried to defuse the continuing controversy over his address, but left unanswered why, if that intelligence was as sound as he said, it has been so difficult for U.S. forces to locate weapons of mass destruction or clearer evidence of an ongoing weapons program in Iraq.
Two Democratic rivals challenged Bush on Iraq. Sen. Bob Graham
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