WASHINGTON (voa) – The Democrats have responded to President Bush’s speech, saying in many ways the United States is headed in the wrong direction.
Gary Locke, the Governor of the state of Washington, delivered the Democratic response, attacking the president’s economic stimulus package as “upside down economics.” Mr. Locke said the president’s plan would create huge, permanent deficits and do nothing to jump start the flagging economy. He also said that two million jobs have been lost in the United States since President Bush took office.
On foreign policy, Mr. Locke said the Democrats support the president in the course he has followed so far, in working with Congress and the United Nations. But he urged the president not to go it alone on Iraq, saying America is stronger when it stands with other nations than when it stands alone.
Just ahead of the speech, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts said he plans to introduce a resolution calling on President Bush to present Congress with what he calls “convincing evidence” of an imminent threat before sending troops off to war with Iraq.
Mr. Kennedy unsuccessfully opposed a resolution overwhelmingly passed by the Senate last year that authorized the president to use military force to disarm Iraq if necessary.
