I would not put a hard accent on the AL in also, nor in the ZENS in citizens. Compared to the rest of the line, these are less accented syllables. There are instances in both Shakespeare and Pope where you can see them pushing around the accents on syllables.
The poetical influence I see in the President's speech is not precise, and mathematical. But it IS there.
John / Billybob
Hi again, Billybob! When it comes to "pushing around the accents on syllables" in iambic pentameter (or, shall we say, using substitute feet in an iambic line?), I think that Robert Frost should be placed right up there with the other masters inasmuch as he sorta stretched things to the limit without losing the underlying meter . . . which brings me back to what you said about the first syllable in the word "also" not being a strong accent . . . and the last syllable of the word "citizen" isn't accented either? Hm-m. Would you, then, scan that line as follows:
To-DAY / I also SPEAK / a-NEW / to my FEL- / low CIT-i-zens.
That, indeed would make the line a 5-footer . . . BUT . . . the underlying meter is lost because of the two feet containing 4 syllables in that line--in the second and fifth positions. Is there a name for those two critters? Since I'm at a loss for words when it comes to explaining such irregular feet . . . shoot! . . . I'm just gonna call that line a 7-footer and forget about it. So, if you think that Bush's speech is poetry . . . well . . . no offense meant, but there's nothing wrong with (perhaps) calling it
prose poetry, is there? ;-)