Bush Says ‘Anxiety’ Can’t Trip Nation Up

President Bush on Wednesday said there was “anxiety” and “uncertainty” among Americans about the Iraq war and the nation’s economic future, but he strongly denounced the idea that the country should react by retreating from the global stage.

The president echoed a theme he first laid out in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, saying there is unease in the nation “even though our economy is roaring” and the nation is following what he called a “path to victory” in Iraq.

“In uncertain times,” the president said Wednesday, “it’s easy ... for people to lose confidence in the capacity of this country to lead and to shape our future.”

Bush’s speech, delivered to a supportive audience in the vast Grand Ole Opry House, suggested he was facing a new challenge: justifying his broad optimism, even as he recognizes that increasing numbers of Americans, as measured by multiple public opinion polls, have deep worries about the progress of the war, the future of the economy and the direction in which he is leading the country.

In a faint echo of a speech President Carter gave as his administration struggled with similar national doubts, Bush sought to renew confidence in the nation’s future, and he cautioned that the United States should not step back from a leadership role in the world. Carter’s address came to be known as the “malaise” speech, although Carter did not use that word.

“My worry,” Bush said, “is that people see that uncertainty and decide to adopt isolationist policies or protectionist policies.”

The trip to Nashville made up the first of three days of presidential travel, to be followed by a weekend at Bush’s vacation home in Texas.

The tour was taking place amid three events likely to shape his efforts to pull out of what has been the most politically troublesome year of his presidency: the State of the Union address Tuesday evening, the president’s delivery of the 2007 budget to Congress on Monday and, that same day, the opening of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping on Americans’ international communications.

“It’s important that he reinforce his agenda and illustrate that he’s still in control and setting policy, domestic as well as foreign,” said Rick Ahearn, who helped another two-term Republican president, Ronald Reagan, communicate his policy goals.

Ahearn said Americans “relate much better to seeing the president out illustrating his points than just standing in the well of the House” delivering the State of the Union address.

Public opinion surveys demonstrate the mood to which the president referred.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Tuesday reported that 31% of respondents said the country was headed in the right direction and 57% said it was on the wrong track. When asked which of four statements came closest to respondents’ current view of the Bush administration’s agenda, 39% chose “misguided and harmful,” 15% called it “stale and tired,” 34% said it was “solid and steady” and 10% called it “vibrant and active.”

In Nashville, Bush sought to reinforce the goals he laid out Tuesday night, renewing his call for the development of alternative energy sources to reduce what he has called the nation’s dependence on oil, much of it imported from unstable regions.

Bush said isolationism “would prevent us from doing our duty around the world [to] not only make this world a place where terrorists have trouble recruiting, but to live up to that admonition: ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ ”

Improving global conditions through effective foreign policy, he said, will make life better at home.

“Helping defeat HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa ... not only reflects the great compassion of America, but it will improve lives for generations of Americans to come,” he said. “I believe defeating hopelessness and despair and helping others defeat poverty is in our national interest.”

He also cited the U.S. role in helping victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake.