Troops Clash With Gunmen in Iraq
HARRIS: President Bush pledging cooperation, appealing for patience just hours after his State of the Union speech. The president is on the road today. He is heading to Delaware to promote his plan to increase alternative fuels like ethanol. Cutting America's gas consumption was one of the major themes of the president's address. He also called for tax breaks aimed at expanding health insurance coverage. On the war in Iraq, the president urged Congress to give his new strategy a chance. He conceded the war being waged now "... is not the fight we entered." But he again warned of dire consequence if the U.S. fails in Iraq.</s>COLLINS: How did President Bush's sixth State of the Union Address compare to his previous ones and to those of previous occupants of the Oval Office? Well, David Gergen, former advisor to four presidents, he's seen this before a few times. He is with us now while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. David, thanks for being here from so far away. Sure do appreciate it. Let's start with an easy one. How did President Bush do last night?</s>DAVID GERGEN, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: OK. I would say it was a solid speech. But, you know, the president has been to the well so many times now on Iraq that the water's run dry. So it's very hard for him to excite the country. And he's got a Democrat sitting there, pretty much sitting on their hands on Iraq. I thought the domestic part of his speech was more interesting simply because some of it was new, unexpected, especially on energy. But even there the proposals are reasonably modest, as welcomed as some of them might be. And, in fact, I think we got some progress on some, especially on energy. But he's a wounded president, you know, in the twilight of his presidency. And inevitably, we've seen presidents before in the sixth year, seventh year, two terms, they're weakened. And this president is particularly wounded.</s>COLLINS: Let's talk for a moment about the way he addressed Iraq, one of the interesting things that he said. Let's go ahead and listen to it and I'll get your comments on the back.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work.</s>COLLINS: David, what do you make of the tone of that? There has been much said already about the tone of this speech in particular. He seemed humbled and sincere, some analysts have said, asking once again to give the Iraq plan a chance.</s>GERGEN: Well, I think the president is in fact going to have that chance, because he is commander in chief, he's already started moving the troops there. But as significant as the speech was yesterday, came the word that Senator John Warner, the Republican that's one of the most respected figures on Capitol Hill on foreign policy, has now joined forces with those who want to draft a resolution opposing this surge, this increase in troops. And even today, within 24 hours of the president speaking, Senator Warner and Senator Biden, a Democrat, and other senators are gathering to see if they can come up with common language. And once you -- once you lose John Warner on your policy as a Republican president, that's a -- that's a devastating loss, because he has so much stature coming from Virginia, a man of significant military experience himself.</s>COLLINS: Usually after a State of the Union Address, the question is asked, did it change anything? It sounds like from what you're saying, yes, it changed some things, but not particularly in the way that the White House may have wanted?</s>GERGEN: I think that's right. And listen, let's be honest about this. The real State of the Union was a speech he gave 10 days ago or so, when he announced from the West Wing of the White House, or the White House proper, that he was going to have this troop increase. That was his significant speech. In some ways, this speech last night lost some of its punch because it came so close to other one. Had they made the decision earlier about the troop surge and let more time elapse, then the president last night could have had something fresh to say about Iraq. You know, what kind of progress had been seen since he made the speech. As it was, there wasn't -- he didn't have much fresh to say. I think that -- you know, so his last two speeches -- I must tell you, the last two speeches, as a general proposition, have -- have not worked very well for the president. He is capable of giving very good speeches, and earlier in his presidency he gave some very, very good speeches, especially just after 9/11. But these recent speeches, because of the lateness in his presidency, he's in the twilight of his presidency, and because the country has turned against the war, and because they just -- they've lacked emotional inspiration.</s>COLLINS: Is the president working on his legacy, David?</s>GERGEN: You know, he's smack in the middle of his legacy because of Iraq. And we'll have to see. I mean, there is some chance he could turn it around in Iraq. He certainly sent a terrific general. We've been hearing -- you know, you've had on your news shows General Petraeus. You couldn't send a better general to Iraq to command the forces. But, you know, one general can't turn this around, and I'm not -- from my perspective, General Petraeus needs more troops. If you're going to send in more troops, really send them in. Don't just send a small number and expect to turn it around. I think -- I think it's a classic problem of potentially too little, too late. And that is -- that is going to be the legacy. Iraq will now be the legacy of this presidency unless something dramatic happens. We can have a calamity of some other kind that could redefine him. But right now Iraq is front and center of what -- how he'll be remembered.</s>COLLINS: David Gergen, former presidential advisor, coming to us from Davos, Switzerland, today. Thank you, David.</s>HARRIS: Tanks in the streets, smoke in the air, American and Iraqi troops cracking down today on insurgents. Baghdad battles ahead in the</s>NEWSROOM. COLLINS: Protecting and serving. The latest police gear may have the bad guys laughing. See why in the NEWSROOM.