WASHINGTON — In his final State of the Union speech yesterday, President Bush tried to accomplish a simple goal: to get a tuned-out America to listen to him about fundamental issues of war, peace and a troubled economy.

A lame duck skirting the edges of relevance in his last year in office, Bush angled to get the country's attention via the pocketbook. He called for quick passage of a bipartisan economic stimulus package to address a credit crunch that has aroused deep anxiety on Wall Street and Main Street.

The speech was a notable departure in how little he proposed — no new programs like space travel to Mars or calls for great sacrifice — as though he was tacitly conceding that the hourglass of his presidency was emptying rapidly.

He appeared to relish the role of national cheerleader, saying that while the economy is slowing, "in the long run, Americans can be confident about their economic growth."

Yet these words might fall short in restoring even a semblance of the political power he once held. A president's voice is his most powerful tool, but the power is lost if people are no longer listening. "The country wants to get past this administration," said presidential scholar Robert Dallek.

In the moment that the country reserves most specially for its president, Bush's timing was at best unfortunate.

His address was bracketed by hotly contested presidential primaries in both parties, in which members of his own Republican Party rarely utter his name and Democrats use it as a partisan punch line.

The partisan divide that has marked his presidency was once again on display, with half of the room, the GOP, cheering him, and Democrats often sitting in stony silence.

The president last came before Congress to promote a war that was going poorly and an economy that was going well. The war overwhelmed the room. This time, he came to talk about progress in the war with an economy teetering on recession, and the concerns about the economy drowned out the news about the war.

DAMAGING WAR

Even though conditions in Iraq have improved since a "troop surge" in 2007, the highly unpopular war had already deeply damaged Bush's political support. It proved a major factor in the Democratic sweep of both houses in the 2006 midterm elections.

But the war also has turned into one of the costliest conflicts in history, with a bill already at $440 billion and rising. Some analysts predict the total cost could exceed $1 trillion.

The war costs undermine Bush's new-found claim to fiscal responsibility. In recent months, he has urged Congress to reduce spending, even though he withheld the veto until late in his presidency, much to the dismay of many "budget hawks."

Bush made it clear to Congress that he is getting tougher on congressional "earmarks," essentially special local projects known as "pork" that are often slipped into bills at the last minute. After ignoring these earmarks for much of his presidency, he said he would veto any spending bill that failed to cut the cost of these earmarks in half, and would issue an executive order directing the government not to honor any earmark not voted on by Congress.

PLEA FOR SUPPORT

As a sign the economy has now become his chief concern, Bush went 2,700 words in his speech before talking about the war. But once again, he passionately defended America's presence in Iraq, citing a decline in civilian deaths and sectarian killings.

He spoke directly to calls for pulling troops from Iraq and winding down the war, as many Democrats support, saying it could lead to disintegration of Iraqi security forces and a rise in violence. "Members of Congress: Having come so far and achieved so much, we must not allow this to happen," he said.

Bush showed consistency on a number of fronts, even if the refrain would win him no new friends. He continued to call the war against terrorism the "defining struggle of the 21st century," and refused to give any timetable for the Iraq war's end. Democrats have done the opposite, saying the fight against terrorism should be waged elsewhere, and that a timetable was essential.

To the loud cheers of Republicans in the chamber, he called for making tax cuts permanent, tax cuts that the Democratic presidential candidates say they would allow to expire in order to pay for expanded healthcare. And he urged that Congress strengthen the No Child Left Behind Act, a controversial educational program that was one of the signatures of his presidency.