Hawai'i's delegation likes tone of union address

By B.J. Reyes
Associated Press

President Bush's State of the Union address yesterday struck the right patriotic tone but fell short of spelling outf how he hopes to accomplish some of his administration's goals, members of Hawai'i's all-Democratic congressional delegation said.

"I think the president gave a very effective speech. I think he'll get good grades on it," said Sen. Dan Inouye. "We hope that when he submits his budget proposal, he will have some suggestions."

Rep. Patsy Mink agreed that Bush struck an appropriate tone but said he fell short of specifics.

"The whole speech lacked details so it's hard to know precisely what his domestic programs are going to be," Mink said. "For example, two to three pages were devoted to jobs. Nobody would oppose anything on the need to find jobs to rebuild America ... but there was no suggestion of how we're going to do this."

Bush focused on the issue that has defined his presidency: Sept. 11 and the war on terrorism. He pledged to fight terrorism with the same vigor that will be needed to revive the nation's ailing economy.

"The president appropriately focused on the issue of security — the paramount concern of the American people at this defining moment of our nation's history," Sen. Daniel Akaka said in a statement released by his office.

One topic the president did not address was the investigation into the collapse of Enron Corp., the Texas-based energy company linked to Bush, and how workers' life savings were wiped out.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie called the Enron disaster the "elephant in the room."

"I don't understand why there's this reluctance to deal with it unless there really is something there that they have to worry about it," he said. "It doesn't make sense to leave that kind of a tragedy on the side."

Bush did not mention Enron in his address but asked Congress to enact pension reform and require more financial disclosure from companies.

Inouye said he also was disappointed at the president's avoidance of the Enron issue.

"It's a crisis in the making," Inouye said. "For one thing, we were hoping he would have sent a message to those in his administration to cooperate.

"For example, the vice president has been adamant in his refusal to share information with the comptroller general. We were hoping the president would tell the vice president, 'Let's cooperate.' "

The General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, has said it may sue to force the White House to turn over documents on the meetings that Vice President Dick Cheney held with business executives as he crafted a national energy policy last year.

Hawai'i's congressional lawmakers said they are eager to see the president's forthcoming budget proposal for direction on how to accomplish his goals.