WORD WATCH
When President Bush addresses Congress on Tuesday, he probably will sum up the state of the union in a word or two. Here’s how past presidents have filled in the blank:
--SWATI PANDEY
*
The state of the union is ... “favorable”
George Washington, 1790
*
“purified by sorrows and strengthened by conflict”
Andrew Johnson, 1865
*
“closely knit together”
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1942
*
“good”
John F. Kennedy, 1963
*
“free and restless, growing and full of hope”
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965
*
“sound, and full of promise”
-- Richard M. Nixon, 1973
*
“not good”
-- Gerald Ford, 1975
*
“still not good enough”
Ford, 1975
*
“better”
Ronald Reagan, 1982
*
“sound and strong”
George H.W. Bush, 1990
*
“the strongest it has ever been”
-- Bill Clinton, 2000
*
“confident and strong”
George W. Bush, 2005
Source: The American Presidency Project
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