Perhaps Bush's best shot at success is immigration overhaul. But then his proposal for a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship always had more support among Democrats than among fellow Republicans. Noting that "convictions run deep" on immigration, Bush urged a "serious, civil and conclusive debate" on the issue.

Bush's comments on immigration brought more Democrats than Republicans to their feet.

In general, an unusually subdued Bush signaled a "readiness for bipartisanship" in his speech that had largely been missing in his past appearances, said Wayne Fields, a specialist in presidential rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis. "Otherwise, what he was talking about was pretty familiar."

Bush also proposed reducing gasoline consumption in the United States by 20 percent over the next 10 years through tougher fuel economy standards and mandatory production of more ethanol and other alternate fuels. It was welcomed by some environmentalists, but they said it didn't go far enough to combat global warming without a mandatory cap on carbon production.

Bush also pushed a tax plan to pay for health-care costs, but that had already been received skeptically by Democrats, who suggested it wouldn't do enough to help the poorest of the uninsured and could encourage some younger and healthier workers to drop out of workplace plans.

Polls show that rising health-care costs are now the major economic concern of Americans. And Bush called for extending and expanding the No Child Left Behind education law, which expires this year.

But critics suggested his plan didn't go far enough to fully fund the program.

Bush's State of the Union agenda was clearly an effort to try to change the subject away from Iraq.

Bush wanted "to get the public to see him and his last two years as not exclusively about Iraq," said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas political science professor.

Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers, said that while Bush's State of Union was an attempt "to breathe life into this administration," it mainly offered just a "large collection of nonstarters."

Bush achieved early successes in striking bipartisan agreements with Democrats in Texas when he was governor and in the early days of his presidency, such as the No Child Left Behind law. But the dynamics are now different and the parties more polarized.

In theory, the thin margins of Democratic control should present an opening for working toward bipartisan solutions to pressing long-term domestic problems, such as shoring up Social Security and Medicare, both of which are headed for serious financial difficulties.

"This is, kind of, the third rail. No one wants to touch it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.