The SOTU address is a laundry list of accomplishments and proposals. Bush did mention SS reform in his address and others before it. The order it comes in the speech is irrelevant and frankly, so is the importance of these speeches, save for exceptions like Bush's SOTU address after 9/11.
Bush and Congress can change this "mandatory spending" crap if they both had their priotities focused on the USA, and it is the POTUS's job to get Congress focused. For the future of the nation, it must be addressed.
Bush has done everything possible to make entitlement reform a major issue. It is not called the "third rail of American politics" for nothing. The Dems are not cooperating. Rather, they are demagoging the issue to achieve a political advantage. The say the Reps want to cut the benefits of the elderly and the poor. You have America's most powerful lobbying group, AARP, spending huge amounts of money to defeat such reform. As an AARP member, I have been furious about the propaganda they have been spewing out and won't renew my membership.
During Bush's tenure, he has spent at a clip that exceeds all modern day presidents. This spending does not jive with nation that has the trends in social welfare spending and demographics that we have. Unless this is changed, we will not be able to defend our nation, As it is, the trends in Defense spending are sliding down while social welfare spending is soaring, now accounting for 64.5% of all spending.
Defense spending has been increasing over the 5 years of the Bush administration, even without the Iraq war. He has been rebuilding the militrary after Clinton gutted it using the so called peace-dividend.
What you don't seem to comprehend is that the WH cannot unilaterally reform the entitlement programs, which are on automatic pilot. Generally, Congress is unwilling to do so because there is a political price to pay. We won't see any reform until after the 2008 elections. Then Congress will be forced to address the problem because the SS "surplus" starts declining in 2008 and in 2017, more money will be spent in benefits than revenue collected. Instead of being a cash cow, SS becomes a liability.