Protesters block president at Stanford

Throng blocks only road to Hoover Institution meeting place

Throngs of protesters at Stanford University blocked the road to Hoover Institution, thwarting President George W. Bush's visit to Hoover late Friday afternoon.

The president was instead taken to the campus home of former Secretary of State George Shultz, according to reports.

Protesters jammed the street, some sitting on the ground. A fire truck made an attempt to open the street around 4:30 p.m. by creating a ruse: telling protesters they needed to get to a fire.

Group members didn't buy the excuse and refused to leave.

"F--- you," a frustrated fireman shouted at the crowd.

Several protesters, who remained seated on the pavement, were arrested. By 5:15 p.m., when there was still no sign of the president’s motorcade, a Stanford security officer was asked if Bush had arrived yet.

“I really don’t know," she said, shrugging.

"If I were him, I wouldn’t come. There’s just too much going on.”

President Bush earlier Friday touted his "American Competitiveness Initiative" as the solution to the nation's economic woes before some 250 high-tech leaders in San Jose.

A panel including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cisco Systems President and CEO John Chambers, who hosted the president at his company headquarters, joined Bush in an hourlong discussion that ranged from funding strategies to relieve American dependence on oil to making tax credits for research and development permanent.

The discussion focused mainly on how to preserve America's financial competitiveness in the future.

"People (have) got to understand that if we don't educate our children in math and science, jobs are going to go to other countries," Bush said. "Math and science are vital to make sure that this country educates the engineers, the chemists, the physicists who (employers) are going to be looking for."

Schwarzenegger urged the president to include infrastructure reform in his plans for America's future.

"The whole United States has to pay attention to infrastructure because how fast we can move around affects our economy," the governor said.

Schwarzenegger was expected to discuss California's fragile levee system and urge Bush to grant the federal disaster declaration he has requested. Earlier Friday, however, an unusual compromise appeared to be in the works as the president issued a waiver that would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair strained levees with state funds.

According to published reports, Bush agreed to allow about $23 million of state funds to go into the military-operated corps as sort of a down payment that could later be reimbursed.

"Today's announcement is a step in the right direction. However, more work needs to be done if we are going to rebuild our levees as quickly as possible," Gubernatorial Press Secretary Margita Thompson said in a statement. "We look forward to seeing the details and language of the President's directive. The governor will continue pressing the federal government to expedite the levee repairs."

Friday's panel discussion did not address California's vulnerable levees along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which appears increasingly fragile following the past months' heavy rainfall.

Instead, high-tech leaders listened politely as panel members deliberated efforts to ensure the United States remains on the leading edge of technology and continues to produce a viable and educated workforce.

Bush acknowledged the nation's growing discomfort with hefty gas prices and jobs moving oversees, but boasted his initiative and peoples' attitudes as the way out of economic despair.

"This is a country that has always been a place where people can dream big," the President said, triggering the meeting's loudest applause.

"The thing facing America is: will we lose our confidence and become an isolated nation? Will we lose our confidence and our ability to compete in

the global marketplace and become a cautious nation? And the answer is no, absolutely not. We will not lose our confidence."

The reason, Bush said, is because his competitiveness initiative would ensure that America remains an economic leader in the world.

Still, while some Bay Area politicians are happy to see Bush talk about American competitiveness, some believe his American Competitiveness Initiative, which he introduced during his State of the Union address 11 weeks ago, doesn't go far enough.

— Sue Dremann/Palo Alto Weekly and Bay City News