No honeymoon for Bush

By Thomas Gorguissian
George W Bush became the 43rd president of the United States on 20 January 2001. In his inaugural address he sought to unify the nation, and establish common ground after his various election battles with Al Gore. He announced: "I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity. I know this is in our reach, because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves, who creates us equal in his image. And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward." He added that, "Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens; not problems, but priorities; and all of us are diminished when any are hopeless."
The inaugural balls, the candle-lit dinners for contributors, the almost $40 million price tag of the festivities and the tens of thousands of demonstrators in the streets of the capital all put over a different message, however, casting doubt on the relevance of what was written, said and heard in the inaugural speech.
The new president is only the fourth president to lose the popular vote, and his electoral-vote margin is the third narrowest in history. Many of his opponents continue to question the legitimacy of Bush's victory, which in the end was decided by a divided US Supreme Court. There will be no "honeymoon period": that was the message of the protesters in the streets who waved signs saying "Hail to the thief" and "Selected, not elected" during the whole parade. It was the largest such protest since Richard Nixon's 1973 inauguration during the Vietnam War. There were just a few arrests, though, and only small skirmishes between demonstrators and the police.
The 43rd president did not wait long to put into motion a number of his various commitments. After the inaugural ceremony, he quickly issued a series of executive orders, including one which (as his aides described it) sought to delay, review and roll back some of the last-minute regulations of the Clinton administration. This was done even before Clinton had left Washington -- and for that matter, even before Bush's post-inaugural luncheon with Congressional leaders was over.
At that same luncheon, Bush admitted that because of the election's closeness, many Americans believed "we can't get anything done" and that "nothing will happen, except for finger-pointing and name-calling and bitterness." He argued, "I'm here to tell the country that things will get done. Republicans and Democrats will come together to do what's right for America."
Nevertheless, Bush faces a rocky four years. He is the first Republican president in half a century to have a House and Senate in the hands of his own party; but the Senate is divided 50-50, and Republicans hold a mere nine-seat majority in the House. So how well the new president will be able to govern remains an open question. Bush will need help from his democratic opponents if his legislation is to pass through the various stages successfully. This last issue will be his main challenge during his first 100 days.
"I'm not backing off the minute I arrive in Washington," the 54-year old Bush declared during his first day in Washington. "Quite the contrary: I'm going to take those issues I campaigned on and campaign hard for their enactment, because I believe it's the right thing for the country." Bush also made clear that he is ready to cooperate. "We're going to find ways to work together.... Either that, or they [the Democrats] are going to be left behind."
The tax cut promise is still on the agenda, Bush's aides have confirmed. It was also announced that the new president's aides are planning to make an intensive push this week to build support for a new initiative regarding education, which Bush plans to send to Congress as his first legislative package.
Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, Bush's Republican opponent in the primary campaign, is scheduled to meet the president to raise the issue of campaign finance reform.
"I want to negotiate. I'm not interested in interfering with President Bush's agenda," McCain commented last Sunday. "But the reality is, the longer we wait, there is this morass again. The big money is there." McCain added that he wanted the legislation presented to Congress by May at the latest.
On the foreign policy front, the new administration will definitely deal with the various questions concerning the best way to deal with problem nations such as Iraq and North Korea. Washington realises that both are likely to present problem scenarios for the new administration -- probably sooner rather than later.
Bush's team, including Gen Colin L Powell at the State Department and Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, will have to decide by next March whether to start a limited missile defense system. Many experts agree that this controversial step would raise worries in Europe and increase tension between America and Russia and China.
Regarding the Middle East, and in particular the peace process, Secretary of State Powell pointed out to Congress that the Bush administration would start by calling on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to curb violence and then would wait for Israeli elections on 6 February before doing anything else. "We will call on [Arafat] to do that, and only then can we see what the next step is going to be ... The administration is going to be in a position where we will have to wait and see what happens in the Israeli elections."
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said on Sunday that Bush's first foreign trip might be to Mexico next month. Bush is also expected to be in Quebec for the April summit of leaders from North and South America.
"We must be involved according to our national interests and not in some haphazard way that seems more dictated by the crisis of the day than by serious, thoughtful foreign policy," Powell said, in what seemed to be guidelines offered to Bush for his foreign policy.
Surely the main challenge the new president will face will be to his lead. As The Washington Post's columnist David Broder wrote: "[Bush] will be exposed to more information, and to more serious policy debate, in the next few months than in the whole of his previous life. He is far from dumb, and a lot of people have learned it's a mistake to underestimate him. But it remains to be seen how well he can process complex information and make sense of conflicting views."
Related stories:
Does peace have a future?
Bush-whacked no longer
A role for Clinton beyond 20 January? 4 - 10 January 2001
Will Bush make a difference? 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001
Picking at the policy details 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001
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