On Monday, January 28, AEI will host a public event to mark the president’s State of the Union address. As President Bush enters his final year in office, many have begun to debate his administration’s legacy. In his eighth and final State of the Union address, issues of foreign and fiscal policy are sure to be central to the president’s address to Congress.
It has been more than six years since the terror attacks on New York and Washington. Has the United States made progress in the war on terror? Certainly, the last year has brought good news in Iraq as a result of the surge. But now Afghanistan looks to be in serious trouble, and U.S. casualties are rising. And what of the “Freedom Agenda”? Is it, as so many suggest, dead? Democracy is in retreat in Russia and not on the horizon for China. Will this president’s legacy be status quo ante in much of the world?
The nexus of an election year and a struggling economy will surely bring economic policy to the forefront of the policy agenda. The economic panel will touch on a number of pressing issues, including the forthcoming economic stimulus package, instability in the housing market, rising oil prices, and the future of American trade policy. How will the president’s agenda be shaped by the 2008 elections? Can Congress reach effective solutions to the nation’s economic challenges?
These and other questions will be the subject of two panel discussions led by AEI’s vice president for foreign and defense policy studies, Danielle Pletka, and by AEI’s director of economic policy studies, Kevin A. Hassett.
