Wartime State of the Union addresses usually aren't any more memorable than those during times of peace, Richard Norton Smith said.
But Smith, a presidential historian and director of the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University, said he thought President Bush's speech Tuesday night may be different.
"There's a consensus we've been given an opportunity here to not only rise to the immediate challenge of winning the war on terror but rediscovering what it is that unites us," Smith said. "It's almost a summons. I think that's why there was a special mood in that chamber tonight. It goes beyond bipartisanship. I imagine it's what the mood must've been like in 1941, '42 and '43."
But that didn't mean the speech ignored the typical model of a State of the Union address, which Smith calls a "laundry list" of accomplishments and goals.
"It was both a progress report on the war and a road map to the future," he said. "And at the same time, unavoidably, an attempt to define the terms of the national debate over domestic policies. You saw the divisions certainly over energy and the economy, with tax cuts. There's a very healthy debate."
Smith, a former Washington, D.C., speech writer, compared the speech to John F. Kennedy's 1962 State of the Union address. Both stressed service to the country. And Kennedy discussed the added benefits of space exploration, which was similar to Bush's mention of the byproducts of the war on terrorism, such as stronger police and fire departments.
Smith said he thought Bush's focus on terrorist organizations other than al-Qaida indicated a turning point in the war on terrorism.
"I thought the speech provided the clearest signal yet that the administration intends to carry the war on terror to other nations," he said. "If I was Saddam (Hussein), I think I'd be tossing and turning this evening. That's a telegram to Baghdad."
Jim Mullins, state president of the Kansas Republican Assembly and a former Douglas County Republican chairman, agreed that Bush gave a dynamic and energetic address that also showed genuine compassion.
"And it's not for the cameras. It's really who he is," Mullins said. "What you see is what you get."
The only stumbling block keeping Bush from effectively reviving the economy, Mullins said, is Democratic senators holding up the president's economic stimulus package.
Mullins said Bush's suggestions of tax breaks for businesses would go a long way toward getting America back on track.
"Businesses are the ones that create jobs for people to go to work," Mullins said. "That's what people want to do."
The response was less enthusiastic from others in Lawrence.
Carrie Moore, chairwoman of the Douglas County Democratic Party, said the three broad goals Bush outlined winning the war on terrorism, bolstering homeland defense and rebuilding the economy were admirable on their face.
"The devil is going to be in the details," she said.
She said she was disappointed in Bush's suggestions that one way for Americans to build a "culture of responsibility" would be to commit 2,000 hours of service to their neighbors and their nation.
"My sense is the American people would respond to doing something more specific than 2,000 hours of public service over the course of their lifetimes," she said.
Madelaine Marchin, executive board member of Kansas University's Young Democrats, also said she thought the speech was vague.
"It was a good speech because he was very patriotic and encouraging to everyone," she said. "I'm just used to more detail and more specific plans for things to improve the country."
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