U.S. - Anxious, optimistic

WASHINGTON -- In wispy attitudes and hard statistics, America is a different place than just a year ago.

The state of the union, as President Bush prepares his first address by that title, has shifted from economic prosperity and partisan rancor to financial uncertainty.

More than a million American jobs have vanished; tax rates are lower; murder and robbery rates are higher; peace has given way to war; the political knives in Washington aren't nearly as sharp.

Attitudes among ordinary Americans have shifted, too: In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a mix of anxiety and optimism has erased the bitter aftertaste of a disputed presidential election.

The state of the nation is good, many people say, but often with a qualifier.

Polls find most Americans feel the country has been permanently changed for the better by the terrorist attacks.

"The country continues to show a stiff upper lip in response to the terrible tragedies of Sept. 11," says Andy Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "That's the way we start the year."

Snapshots from the state of the union, on the eve of Bush's speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night:

CRIME: Violent crime dropped 1.3 percent in the first half of 2001, the most recent figures available. But murders and robberies nonetheless rose. The overall drop in violent crime continued a nine-year decline, yet many criminologists fear the trend may have run its course, and that crime could be creeping upward again in this recession.

POVERTY: The latest figures are rosy -- the poverty rate hit its lowest level in a quarter-century in 2000 at 11.3 percent -- with welfare reform credited for at least part of the progress. But many experts expect poverty to rise during the economic downturn. And some welfare families have had their benefits reduced or eliminated because of time limits that kicked in last year. A mayors' survey of big cities released last month found increasing demands for food and emergency shelter. "A recession hits everybody, and sometimes it hits the most vulnerable the hardest," said Susan Mayer, deputy director of the Joint Center for Poverty Research.

UNEMPLOYMENT: Month after month, the news has been grim lately. Overall, the economy lost more jobs last year than in any other in the past two decades. Unemployment hit a six-year high of 5.8 percent in December.

By historic standards, that's not as bad as some might think. "A few years ago, we used to think that was full employment," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's Co.

FEDERAL BUDGET: A year ago, President Bush was itching to turn a chunk of the budget surplus into an across-the-board tax cut. Americans got the first installment of their tax cut. But now, in a head-snapping reversal, the government expects to run a deficit this year and next. Republicans point to increased spending on counterterrorism and the military, and say surpluses could return in a year or two. Democrats blame the tax cut and want to scale it back.

ATTITUDES: Americans are expressing more interest in public affairs, more trust in one another and more tolerance for other races, but they have yet to change their behavior much, polls suggest. Harvard professor Robert Putnam says it's not clear whether post-9-11 shifts in attitude will be transitory or translate into action. "America at this moment has an incredible opportunity, the kind that comes along only once every half century, to become better connected with one another," says Putnam.

SECURITY: The peacetime military of January 2001 now is at war. About 4,000 Americans are serving in Afghanistan, and 50,000 in the region. At home, complacency has been replaced by lingering fears of more terrorist attacks and zigzagging airport security lines.

New restrictions on civil liberties make some people uneasy. And yet, overall, most Americans approve of the way the Bush administration is handling the fight against terrorism.