Edwards criticizes Bush, touts health care and Iraq plans

TULSA — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards criticized President Bush’s State of the Union address during his stop at a Tulsa union hall Tuesday, but steered clear of attacking his party's frontrunners.

No mention was made during the 20-minute speech of his primary opponents — Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton of New York — first- and second-place winners, respectively, last week in South Carolina.

Edwards said what he heard President Bush say was “more tax cuts for big business, more illegal spying on the American people and everything is going great in Iraq if we just stay on course."

“Boy, it sounds like groundhog day to me,” he told the 450 people reportedly crowded into the Transport Workers Union Local 514 union hall. The local represents more than 6,000 employees at the American Airlines Maintenance & Engineering Center at Tulsa International Airport with some in four smaller cities. The local also has more than 2,700 retirees in the Tulsa area.

“The first year that I am president of the United States I will bring to an end this mess of a war in Iraq,” Edwards said.

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