STATE OF THE UNION REACTION IN THE HEARTLAND

STATE OF THE UNION REACTION IN THE HEARTLAND
War and economy top litany of complaints
Some Iowans challenge President Bush's assessment of the state of the union, pointing to health care, Social Security, deficit, immigration

By Tim Jones
Tribune national correspondent. Copyright by the Chicago Trribune
Published February 2, 2006

WEST BRANCH, Iowa -- By force of habit and an addiction to a good argument, the daily meeting of the Citizens Against Virtually Everything, or the Caveman Club, as it is known, came to a semblance of order at 6 a.m. Wednesday, and the State of the Union took a whacking.

"He talks about the economy getting better, but all the jobs here are just service jobs--7 or 8 bucks an hour," said Kenneth "Chief" Thomas, challenging President Bush's assessment of a stronger economy.

"And they oughta get the oil companies for price-gouging. Exxon doesn't need to be making $100 million a day while we have to pay $2.30 for a gallon of gas," said Norm Bickford, who, like Thomas, is one of about a dozen regulars who meet at McDonald's on Interstate Highway 80 every day, often to prick the pomp of politicians the Cavemen think are creating intolerable circumstances.

Early-morning coffee shop and fast-food restaurant scenes like these in Iowa and across the nation are the other democratic response to the State of the Union speech, and they mirror the deep divisions measured in public opinion polls that show 6 in 10 voters--including those in Iowa, a state Bush carried in 2004--unhappy with the president's performance.

A poll published this week in The Des Moines Register found 61 percent of Iowans think the nation is on the wrong track. Bush's job-approval rating is 37 percent, the Register poll said.

The litany of complaints is topped by the war in Iraq and the economy, and is quickly followed by fuel prices, health care, immigration, the deficit, China, the future of Social Security and what saber-rattling against Iran might bode for an already stretched military.

`In horrible trouble'

The president's speech took the combined audience share of the four broadcast networks to surpass ratings for Fox's "American Idol," which aired in the hour before the State of the Union speech, according to Nielsen Media Research.

But in Iowa, many people didn't need to watch the speech to know what they think.

"I think the economy's in horrible trouble," said Mary Thomas, who works in a bakery in Tipton and didn't listen to the speech. "Part of me just wants to grab Bush and shake his brains out."

There may be no better spot to fight over Bush and the state of the nation than Cedar County, a rolling mat of stubbled cornfields separating industrial Davenport from collegiate Iowa City. Out of nearly 10,000 votes cast in the county in the presidential election in 2004, only 122 votes separated Bush from Sen. John Kerry, with Bush getting the edge. In 2000, the county vote tally was deadlocked until the absentee ballots were cast, giving the nod to Vice President Al Gore.

This is a county that knows something about politically polarizing figures: It is the birthplace of Herbert Hoover, whose woeful legacy is being president at the start of the Great Depression. The joke around West Branch is that when Hoover took office in 1929, there were only three Democrats in the entire county. And when he left four years later, there were only three Republicans.

"People here are not shy about expressing themselves. They are very direct," said Timothy Walch, director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Hoover's hometown.

"I think right now a lot of Iowans are unhappy," Walch said. "I think [polls] are ominous, kind of like the canary in the cave, wobbling."

A touchy topic

In Tipton, a town of about 3,100 people and the government seat located in the geographic center of the county, Bush is a topic around which good friends tread carefully. Julie Courter, director of the Tipton Public Library, and Denise Smith, the assistant director, sit barely 15 feet from each other in the 103-year-old library.

"No, we don't talk politics," said Courter, an admittedly passionate Democrat who said she could not bring herself to watch the speech Tuesday night. "I get more worked up about it than Denise does."

Said Smith, a Republican and Bush supporter, "We have agreed to disagree."

Along Cedar Street, the main drag of Tipton, the nation's troubles are acknowledged but, among many Republicans, Bush should not be blamed, they say. The war is either an ancient struggle of biblical proportions or a proper response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. To them, pulling out now is unthinkable.

"People are just looking to nitpick," said Amy Crock, who runs a copy and print services shop. Crock said there are economic challenges, "but that's part of life. You're not going to get everything on a platter."

At the northern and southern entrances of town, on Iowa Highway 38, large yard signs declare support for the troops. Pictures of slain service members hang in the windows of some merchants--Spec. Aaron James Sissel of Tipton and Staff Sgt. Donald Griffith Jr. of nearby Mechanicsville.

When the talk turns to the war, the tenor of political discourse changes. The jovial banter and rock-hard certainty declaring one person's stupidity and another's foolishness, as is often heard when the Cavemen meet for coffee, turns to bewilderment.

"I think we should be in Iraq," said Donovan Wright, a military veteran. "I'm just not sure we should stay. . . . I don't know if we will ever get rid of the insurgents."

Jim Lloyd, another veteran, said his car has a support-our-troops bumper sticker. "I get discouraged," he said. "It's gonna be hard to get out of there."

No one offered a solution.

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tmjones@tribune.com