President George W. Bush's State of the Union speeches will be seen as critical moments in his presidency. In 2002, he identified an "axis of evil" that threatened the United States and the world. A year later, he used 16 words alleged to be proof of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's efforts to develop nuclear weapons -- that are now considered emblematic of his administration's failures in Iraq. This year, Mr. Bush used his State of the Union address to try to retake the political initiative after midterm elections that gave Democrats control of Congress and the continuing debacle in Iraq dragged his popularity ratings to new lows. Mr. Bush must regain the confidence of the American people; his speech was unlikely to accomplish that objective.

Mr. Bush's Tuesday night (U.S.-time) speech was historic for at least one reason: It began with the words "Madame Speaker" as he recognized the first woman speaker in the history of the House of Representatives, Ms. Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi sat behind the president, with Vice President Dick Cheney, a sign of the new bipartisan reality in Washington. Mr. Bush underscored the need for Democrats and Republicans to accept this new state of affairs and work together to solve the problems the country faces. The tone in Washington has been bitter and both sides have acknowledged that the rancor of the past must end; their readiness to do that remains uncertain. Mr. Bush remains "the decider" and the Democratic leadership in Congress was committed to completing its 100-hour agenda, even at the cost of bipartisanship. Neither attitude bodes well for cooperation in the two years remaining in the president's term.

For Washington watchers, Mr. Bush's speech contained few surprises. The first half was devoted to domestic issues, most of which have been touched upon in previous speeches and continue to defy resolution: the budget deficit, immigration, education, health care and energy security. Most of the proposals were either old or had been leaked to the press in advance: changing taxation on health care, raising fuel efficiency standards for automobiles to help cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil and social-security reform. Democrats declared the proposal for health care "dead on arrival," they oppose drilling for oil in protected environments such as Alaska, and social-security reform was buried in the last congressional session. In one promising development, the administration signaled that it was thinking about shifting course on climate change. Mr. Bush's recognition of "the serious challenge of climate change" was more than he had said in five previous State of the Union speeches, but that was all he said on the subject.