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CNN Sunday Morning

Bush Delivers State of the Union Address Tuesday

Aired January 27, 2002 - 09:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: On Tuesday night, President Bush delivers his State of the Union Address. He'll be speaking to a nation whose priorities have changed certainly since September 11th, or have they? CNN's John King reports from suburban St. Louis.

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JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): League night means a full house at the Strike and Spare Lanes in suburban St. Louis, and at the moment Cynthia Cole is worried most that her average has slipped a few points of late.

She just found full-time work after a year long search and is nervous about the economy. Yet, she's upbeat. More tolerant is one way she describes the state of the union, four and a half months to the day that changed everything.

CYNTHIA COLE: I think 9/11 helped a lot of this, because they realize that all of us have to work together in order to make this thing all right.

KING: This is a blue collar crowd, mostly Al Gore backers in the last campaign, but Democrat Jeannette Callanan is glad Republic George W. Bush was the President on the morning of September 11th.

JEANNETTE CALLANAN: I don't think that Gore would have handled the pressure of all this.

KING: High marks for wartime leadership hardly mean Mr. Bush has won these folks over. Most say they aren't paying too close attention to the debate over tax cuts and deficit spending back in Washington, but the economy is a major worry. It tops Cheryl Nollinger's worry list, because more colleagues in state government are about to lose their jobs.

CHERYL NOLLINGER: I just heard today that there's going to be a lot of state employees laid off, and I don't know what the reason is for that. I just know that they need to cut money and that's where they're going to cut it at.

KING: The lanes are busy, the Rams advancing in the playoffs. It all seems almost normal again. Here too, visits to the St. Louis Science Center dropped 10 percent in the month or so after the attacks, back to normal now. Ceramics class is part of the routine at the Afton Senior Center, before and after September 11th. Most here remember Pearl Harbor and want the President to see the War on Terrorism through to the end. Over cards, Kmart's bankruptcy filing comes up and Lilly Fields at the surprise of no one at the table, would like to make a point.

LILLY FIELDS: They can say what they want to about Clinton's morals, but by God we had a better economy when he was in.

KING: Frank Blair says 8-year-old son Nick doesn't talk about September 11th anymore, but he worries because of an unforgettable moment on that unforgettable day.

FRANK BLAIR: He was tugging on my sleeve. He pulled me down next to him, and he said "daddy, are we going to die?"

KING: Business if off a bit at the hardware store, but Blair trusts the President when it comes to the economy. He figures in any event, things will bounce back in time. It's a good place to get the pulse of a community, and Blair too, notices a different born of September 11th. Customers, he says, are more patient, more polite.

BLAIR: It's forced us to, at least for me, to examine how tolerant am I of people? Because this whole thing is all about hate.

KING: Getting home for dinner more of a priority now, a team effort here, and before eating a moment to reflect and remember that something so routine, so normal, is also something to be cherished. John King, CNN, Maryland Heights, Missouri.

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