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Just received this in the inbox from the Illinois Republican Young Professionals:

President George W. Bush will deliver his State of the Union address this evening at 8:00 PM Central. The White House has provided us with message points in advance of this evening's historic speech. They are copied below. Please feel free to share them.

As the President begins his second term and embarks on pursuing his positive agenda, he's going to face a lot of resistance from the Democrats. Litigation, tax and social security reform are some of the Administration's goals for the next four years. The President is going to need all of us to help communicate his message.

If you are unable to hear the President's speech this evening, a transcript will be available on the White House's website (www.whitehouse.gov) later this evening.

REPUBLICAN YOUNG PROFESSIONALS (RYP)
(visit our website at www.ilryp.org)

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State of the Union Message Points


The Speech
This is a unique year for the State of the Union address because it comes on the heels of the Inaugural address. The two speeches provide an important opportunity for the President to articulate his domestic and foreign policy goals for the next four years to the American people and to the world.

The Inaugural address laid out the ideal toward which America will strive and the governing principles that will guide us. The State of the Union will lay out specific goals, immediate and long-term, for how and where we'll lead America, and will present a blueprint for a second term.

This is an opportunity for the President to not only educate the American people, but also persuade Congress that the country is going in the right direction, but there is more work to be done.

The President will call on Congress to fulfill its obligation and achieve results for the American people rather than passing problems on to future Congresses and future generations.

The first half of the speech will focus on domestic topics; the second half will focus on foreign policy.


Domestic Policy
The President will speak directly to the American people and to Congress about Social Security and offer more details on how to move the debate forward. He will discuss why we need to permanently fix the Social Security system and why it's necessary that we confront this problem today. He will express his willingness to work in a bipartisan manner and talk about why he believes personal retirement accounts are critical to helping future generations realize a secure retirement.

The President will talk about building on the economic momentum of the last few years, noting that 2.3 million jobs have been created in the last year.

The President will also talk about legal reform, tax reform, passing a comprehensive energy policy, and education and job training initiatives to make sure we have a skilled workforce to compete with anybody in the world. And he will discuss fiscal discipline and the fact that he will be putting forward a budget that reflects our times and meets our goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009.


Foreign Policy
This State of the Union comes during a time of war. The President will pay tribute to the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to secure our freedom. He will speak to the importance of working to advance the spread of freedom and democracy. The President will also speak directly to those individuals who are fighting for freedom around the world; those who wear the uniform of the United States military, and the peoples of many countries that are fighting for their own freedom.

The President will speak specifically about the Middle East peace process and the renewed hope around the world for peace in the Middle East.

The President will reflect upon historic progress made in recent weeks, focusing on the elections in Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and Iraq.

The President will talk about our priorities and our plans moving forward, as well as our aims and goals to help the Iraqi people secure their country and continue on the path to democracy.


After The Speech
The President will embark on a five-state tour, beginning Thursday, to take his case for strengthening Social Security to the American people. He will visit Fargo, North Dakota, Great Falls, Montana, Omaha, Nebraska, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Tampa, Florida.

Mrs. Bush, the Vice President, and other members of the Cabinet and sub-Cabinet including Secretary Snow and Director Bolten will travel educating Americans and highlighting initiatives the President will be talking about in the State of the Union.