State of the Union

From USA Today's account, here's what to expect when Bush starts talking:

Bush will spend the first half of his speech on Social Security and other domestic issues. He will talk about keeping the economy growing by giving workers better education and job training, passing an energy plan that reduces dependence on foreign oil, and limiting liability and medical-malpractice lawsuit awards to hold down business and health care costs.

He will repeat his pledge to cut the federal budget deficit in half by 2008 and will propose that spending on things other than defense and homeland security be limited to an increase less than 1%. That means some domestic programs would be reduced or eliminated.

He will repeat a controversial call for immigration reform that would establish a guest-worker program for legal immigrants. He'll talk about creating temporary-worker status for some of the millions who are in the country illegally.

The second half of the speech will be devoted to foreign affairs, primarily Bush's assessment of progress in the war on terrorism, efforts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the work toward stability and democracy in Iraq. He will say the Iraqi elections show his policy is working.

Whole thing here.

The speech reportedly ran 40 minutes in rehearsals, sans applause, standing O's, etc. So it could be quite long…