President Bush's State of the Union address drew a critical response from a group of five women who gathered at the offices of the Minnesota AFL-CIO to watch the speech on television. The group included union and non-union workers, students, and a retiree.

The president began his remarks Tuesday night by addressing the war on terror and the war in Iraq and didn't turn to domestic issues until more than halfway through his speech.

"They've done such a good job of emphasizing fear," said Barb Street, a retired social worker and AFSCME member. "The government's use of fear is mind-boggling."

"What about right here at home?" asked Krista Mastel, a recent college graduate planning to attend graduate school.

Mastel said she's concerned about her parents, who plan soon to retire and worry about the stability of Social Security. She added, "I want to know when I'm old that I'm going to have Social Security."

Anna Zbacnik, a second grade teacher in the Roseville Schools, watches Bush's speech. "I wanted to hear more about health insurance issues," she said. Labor Review photo

"He didn't address any of the problems I see imminent in our society," said Shanelle Evens, a senior at Hamline University in St. Paul and the student body president. "It's a lack of his addressing common problems that throws me off."

Evens, who recently returned from a visit to Louisiana, said she wanted to hear the president talk more about recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast states. Areas hit last August by Hurricane Katrina, she reported, remain devastated.

"I wanted to hear more about health insurance issues," said Anna Zbacnik, a second grade teacher in the Roseville schools and member of Education Minnesota. "I know a lot of people my age who don't have health coverage."

Zbacnik and her husband want to start a family soon, she added, but her husband's job doesn't offer affordable health care insurance. She could add him to her teachers' union insurance policy, she said, but that would cost $300 per month. Plus, she could only take six weeks maternity leave and would need to continue working.

Student Shanelle Evens (left), a senior at Hamline University, and Krista Mastel, recent college graduate planning to attend graduate school, listen to the speech. "He didn't address any of the problems I see imminent in our society," Evens said. Labor Review photo

When the president did turn to domestic issues, "he didn't offer any solutions," said Kate Pierce, a non-union worker at Target.

The group laughed when Bush claimed that "our economy is healthy and vigorous."

The group nodded heads when Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who offered the Democratic Party response, took Bush to task for "poor choices and bad management."

The women applauded when Kaine decried the Bush administration's "culture of partisanship and cronyism."

After the president's speech and Kaine's response, the group of Minnesota women continued talking for another hour. They talked about lack of funding for education and the shortcomings of standardized testing as a measure of student progress. They shared stories about relatives who were raising funds to buy gun-cleaning kits for family members serving in the U.S. military in Iraq. They talked about Bush's call to extend tax cuts for the wealthy and their own willingness to pay more taxes to support public services.

"This was kind of fun to watch this with so many people," Zbacnik said. She worried that Bush "says things in a way that tries to scare people into thinking his way."

"There's a certain mentality of people who say, 'the president knows, we have to support the president," retiree Street said. "We don't seem to have the idea that we're all responsible for each other."

The gathering was one of 10 worker roundtables organized across the country by the national AFL-CIO give voice to ordinary workers' response to the president's address.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issued a statement in response to Bush's speech, reading in part: "The president's lofty rhetoric means little to working people who are struggling to survive in a climate that's become increasingly hostile to them. The president had an opportunity to present America's workers with a bold and aggressive plan to set our country on a new course. Sadly, it was yet another opportunity this president squandered."

Steve Share edits the Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council. E-mail him at laborreview@mplscluc.com or visit the CLUC website, www.minneapolisunions.org