President Obama’s new commerce secretary nominee, Gary Locke, gave the Democratic response to the SOTU in 2003. An excerpt:
We also support the president in working with our allies and the United Nations to eliminate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il of North Korea. Make no mistake: Saddam Hussein is a ruthless tyrant, and he must give up his weapons of mass destruction.
We support the president in the course he has followed so far — working with Congress, working with the United Nations, insisting on strong and unfettered inspections. We need allies today in 2003, just as much as we needed them in Desert Storm and just as we needed them on D-Day in 1944, when American soldiers — including my father — fought to vanquish the Nazi threat.
We must convince the world that Saddam Hussein is not America’s problem alone — he’s the world’s problem. We urge President Bush to stay this course for we are far stronger when we stand with other nations than when we stand alone. I have no doubt that together, we can meet these global challenges.