US President George W. Bush will deliver his annual State of the Union address on Monday night against the backdrop of an economy in recession and a turbulent stock market, as well as unfinished business concerning the so-called "axis of evil."

As the economy has surpassed Iraq as the top public concern, Bush will use the address to sell Americans a 150-billion-dollar economic stimulus package that the White House hopes will stave off recession in an economy suffering from high oil prices and a housing slump.

Bush is expected to press the Democrats-controlled Congress to complete work on the package, which features tax rebates and incentives for businesses to invest in facilities and equipment.

However, some Democrats in the Senate have said they want to broaden the bill, including an unemployment benefits expansion, an increase in home heating subsidies or higher food stamp benefits. But Bush has said that they could derail the whole effort and he warned against it.

Den. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, said on Saturday: "We need to do so much, much more. We need to fix the bigger economic issues that threaten our country's future."

Moreover, Bush has long wanted to make permanent the tax cuts approved early in his term, but Democrats appear to have little interest. Bush will have to secure free trade deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, but the trade deals have been stalled in Congress over workers' rights and other Democratic concerns, according to a report by the Washington Post.

On the diplomatic front, the "axis of evil," a phrase Bush termed six years ago, are still a source of headaches for the Bush administration: Iraq has failed to achieve political reconciliation and Iraqi security forces failed to take responsibility of their country by November 2007, although the United States dispatched about 30,000 more troops to Iraq last year.

In terms of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, it failed to meet the deadline to declare its nuclear activities, and according to local media, US officials worry that Pyongyang might be waiting for Bush's successor to take over in January next year, as the next US president might offer it a better deal. For Iran, the United States is struggling to keep international unity on new sanctions on the Islamic country.

On the Middle East peace process, although Bush helped revive the peace process and visited the region about three weeks ago, the hope to create a Palestinian state by late 2008 still hangs in balance.

The scope of Bush's challenge was underscored by a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll earlier this month, which showed Bush's overall approval rating at 32 percent, the lowest ever, with 30 percent of the public approving his handling of Iraq. His handling of the economy rated even worse, with 28 percent approval compared with 41 percent a year ago.

Therefore, deeply unpopular Bush faces a steep challenge in persuading Americans to heed his State of the Union address on the war, economic policy or any other issues, the Washington Post report said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2008)