Heartfelt in the Heartland

President Bush was in Chicago today, his first major news conference outside Washington. The conference was held at the Museum of Science and Industry, with a backdrop of the Chicago skyline. Bush visited with Mayor Daley on the occasion of his 60th birthday and had breakfast at the old Route 66 restaurant just west of the Loop, Lou Mitchell's. I watched it on FoxNews.

It looks like the president is serious about contesting Illinois for the GOP, which has a chance at regaining the governor's office, especially with recent developments in the investigation of the Blagojevich administration. The president is attending a fundraiser lunch for GOP gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka, shrugging off a question needling him about a comment made by a member of her staff a few months ago that Bush would only be welcome under cover of darkness. He said he was here for lunch and was pleased to have been invited. The effort will jump-start the Topinka campaign among the Republican base. So far JBT seems to be pursuing a Brer Fox strategy, letting Blagojevich get stuck by the Patrick Fitzgerald tar baby.

The president did not comment on the Fitzgerald Chicago cases, only saying he has handled the DC (Plame) case well and that his reappointment was up to the Attorney General.

In answer to a question about whether he still thought Daley was a great mayor, given the hiring scandal, Bush graciously said he still thinks Daley is a great mayor, Chicago is a well run city, Daley's a leader, when he tells you something he means it, like when he said "We're gonna whomp you in the 2000 election".

On the Congressional elections, Bush stated "We will hold the House and the Senate" and took a mild swipe at Democrats by saying you win elections by believing in something. He also cited good job numbers illustrating a good economy, and restated his comprehensive immigration policy. There were no questions on these two domestic topics.

On gas prices and energy, Bush said it takes a while to develop energy independence, which he had discussed in State of the Union as a priority, pointing to some progress on ethanol, especially in the Midwest, higher CAFE standards on light trucks and tax incentives for hybrid vehicles. The president is in favor of developing nuclear power to decrease our dependence on overseas sources of energy, as well as being cleaner for the environment.

Turning the question around, President Bush posed a challenge to those who support lowering gas prices, suggesting they should support his bill to permit the construction of new refineries, which have not been built in 25 years.

Lots of questions, of course on North Korea. Bush: Diplomacy takes a while. The Security Council needs to be united, "Kim Jong Il needs to hear the world speak with one voice". North Korea signed an agreement to demilitarize in 1994 and the man broke his word.

"The choice is his to make" but North Korea shouldn't be rewarded for breaking agreements.

On the trajectory of the North Korean missile: Our ABMs are modest. We are working on new research, testing. "The fact that a non-transparent society fired off some missiles without saying where they were going shows we need an ABM system."

One reporter asked, can we handle wars on 3 fronts---Afghanistan, Iraq and N Korea?

The president stated diplomacy comes first: "All diplomatic options were exhausted with Saddam Hussein" . The UN passed more than 15 resolutions demanding "Disclose, disarm or face serious consequences. You need to mean what you say, that's how you keep the peace. The vote was 15-0 with us. The choice was Saddam Hussein's.

The president is working with the G8 countries to persuade them that "national security must trump economic considerations" in the case of Iran.

He touched on North Korea again, that he is "not going to let us get caught in the trap of sitting at the table alone". Nontransparent societies try to make us the problem. Bilateral talks run out of options quickly, so China and South Korea are necessary partners. We have six party talks started.

Their leaders in Iran and N Korea have choices. The president is concerned about deprivation in North Korea, children starving, concentration camps.

On what he would say to families of Illionois National Guard troops sent to Iraq: It's a noble and important cause. Tough but we will win. We will not set an artificial timetable for withdrawal. (It will be set by General Casey, not by politics)It would be unfair to our troops and send the wrong message to the enemy--confirm what they think about us--that we are weak, corrupt, and will not finish the job.

He went on to make the important point that the enemy gets to define success, not us and is willing to kill women and children to show up on our TV screens, taking advantage of us as a compassionate people. We don't usually see new infrastructure, businesses and schools in Iraq. We are winning. A Free Iraq is essential to discourage terrorists. In the past the US has supported stability and hoped for the best, then came the attack that killed 3000 of our citizens.

Bush concluded with the thought that freedom is universal, etched in the soul of every person, acknowledging that the Press Corps is bored with this story, but he's going to keep telling it anyway. Alluding to the Japanese prime minister's visit the US, enlivened by a trip to Elvis' home Graceland, Bush reminded us he and Koizumi are the sons of those who fought against each other in WWII, that Japan adopted a Japanese style democracy after the war and development in the Far East has been remarkable, relatively peaceful except for the one outpost of North Korea. It took a while for that peaceful evolution to occur.

So President Bush came to the heartland to express some heartfelt sentiments.

I may not agree with the president on every issue, or on how he has handled some things, but I do believe he is an honest, hardworking man, doing the most difficult job in the world, and that is something we Americans need to remember and value.