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Bush in Atlanta Campaigns for Minority Home Ownership

Aired June 17, 2002 - 12:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush today is pushing the dream of home ownership. He says more minorities need to own homes, and he has some ideas intended to make that happen.

CNN's Kelly Wallace is in Atlanta is traveling with the president, who is in Atlanta -- hi there, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

Well, with the congressional elections just a little more than four months away, everything really the president does should be viewed through a political prism. Because this White House has made it clear it believes the Republicans need to do a better job reaching out to African-American and Hispanic voters. And that was part of president's goal during his visit here to Atlanta.

He was visiting what was once a public housing project. Now it's become really a model community: middle-income and low-income housing. The president laying out a new marker, he says he wants to increase the number of minority homeowners by 5.5 million by the end of the decade.

He says he hopes to do that by providing grants to help families afford and make their first down payment, and also providing tax credits to developers to encourage them to build affordable housing.

This, though, a very, very quick trip. The president on the ground here in Atlanta just a few hours.

He is on the way to the airport making his way back to Washington, where there is intense speculation, Fredricka, about exactly when the president will put forward his ideas on a way to get the Israelis and the Palestinians back on the path to peace, Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, telling a newspaper it would come this week, aides saying it will come, quote, "in the very near future."

The big challenge for the president is finding something that all sides can live with, because one idea that aides have said the president is considering is calling for a provisional or temporary Palestinian state as a way to give hope to the Palestinian people. But on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected that idea as a nonstarter. And on the other side, the Palestinians want the president to establish a timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state.

So a big challenge ahead. The word we're getting, Fredricka, could come as early as tomorrow -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And also this weekend, Kelly, on the issue of the separation, or the provisional state even, of the Palestinian territory, this weekend we saw a groundbreaking of this electric fence going up that would divide Israel and the West Bank. The beginning stages of this 75-mile fence, which eventually could be 218 miles -- any reaction from the White House as to whether that really is the right thing to do?

WALLACE: The White House, Fredricka, walking a delicate balancing act here, careful not to criticize Israel, but also making it clear it does not necessary believe that building of this fence is a, quote, "constructive step." The message from Scott McLellan, the president's deputy press secretary, is that Israel has a right to defend herself, but that Israel also must keep in mind the consequences of its actions.

So clearly, this White House not criticizing Israel, but making it clear, at some point down the road, Israel and the Palestinians must live peacefully side by side. A message from the administration that this fence might not be exactly the right thing to do at this time -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kelly Wallace, traveling with the president from Atlanta now, thank you.

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