by Mark Silva
The White House is looking for national television coverage of President Bush’s statement on the war in Iraq this morning – barring any “Hollywood scandal” that gets in the way – and the president will deliver one of his spring commencement addresses today at a Kansas high school in a tornado-wracked town.
The president’s press secretary was asked if Bush’s statement at 11:30 am EDT in the Cross Hall of the White House announcing a pause this summer in troop withdrawals fis “an address to the nation.” (The president made such a televised national address last fall from the Oval Office, when he announced the start of a gradual drawdown of “surge” forces, calling it “a return on success.”)
The president is “giving a statement,” Press Secretary Dana Perino said. “I don’t know what your definition is of an address to the nation… We are not asking for network time… For those networks that want to cover it, great – barring any Hollywood scandal that pops up.”
And the president, who delivers three commencement addresses each spring – including one at one of the U.S. service academies – will make one of those at a high school this year: Greensburg High School, in tornado-stricken Greensburg, Kansas. Bush plans to address the graduating Greensburg high schoolers on May 4.
The president will also salute the graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 28 and the graduates of Furman University in Greenville, S.C., on May 31.