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American Morning

Interview with Joe Klein

Aired January 02, 2003 - 08:33   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: His handling of Iraq and the war on terror are major reasons why President Bush is so popular right here at home. In the second part of Paula's conversation with our political poobah is Jeff Greenfield and Joe Klein, they take a look at some of the rising stars in from the world of politics in 2002 and beyond.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Political stars of the year?

JOE KLEIN, "TIME": George W. Bush, no question. Not only domestically, but I think that the move that they made to go to the United Nations and give the speech on September 12, just knocked the pins out of all the Europeans and liberal Democrats.

ZAHN: Because it was completely unexpected?

KLEIN: That's right, but it was also everything that he has done, with regards to Iraq, since September 12, has been unexceptionable.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, Karl Rove, whether he deserves it or not and he probably does, is now the Rasputin of the White House, the genius. Evil, if you're a Democrat, great if you're a Republican. If you look at rising political stars, I do think that two new Republican senators, Coleman of Minnesota and Talent of Missouri, both come in -- they're effective campaigners, they're both very smart. They're moderate conservatives.

And I think the incoming governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, the first Philadelphian to win the governorship in 90 years, has real potential. I mean, the age thing, the fact that he's 58. You know, if you're looking six years out, is that too old, too young? But this guy has something that Democrats really lack. He has strength. He has a kind of a non-cognant, you can't quantify it. But Rendell has the kind of as a political figure, he's able to take on his own core base, like the labor unions, and still get their support in the end.

KLEIN: About a month or so ago, I was down in South Carolina and watched Senator John Kerry and Senator John Edwards, both of them running for president or seem to be running for president, in Edwards case, both of them speaking to party faithfuls in South Carolina. Both of them got standing ovations. I've watched whole presidential cycles, where no one got a standing ovation. And so, those who say that this democratic -- emerging Democratic field is weak or dwarfs or whatever term you want to use, they're wrong.

ZAHN: Let's look ahead to 2003, very briefly, of course. The day that everybody is talking about is January 27 which, I guess, is the marker that everybody is going to use to decide whether we really we are, indeed, closer to war or not. What else should we be looking for next year?

KLEIN: January 28, which is George W. Bush's State of the Union address, where he may declare war, number one. But, number two, I think that, given the way things line up now, he has the conservative base of his party in his pocket and he can potentially move to the center and take a lot of issues that Democrats really care about, like prescription drug benefit, like patient's bill of rights, a whole bunch of other things.

ZAHN: Jeff?

GREENFIELD: If the Republicans reassure moderates that they're not -- particularly, moderate women -- that they're not going too far to the right. And if they make any inroad into the minority base -- African-American base and Democratic Party, I'm talking about winning them over, getting another 10 percent of them -- you will then see something like the realignment that everybody's been talking about and has never happened. That is not a prediction, it's simply a possibility.

KLEIN: Well, this is a huge, year for George W. Bush. Here is a guy who is elected under very questionable circumstances. Two years out, he's running, arguably, the most powerful White House of our generation, and this year, he's facing war and he's facing economy. And if he gets through this year, he could be in an incredibly powerful position to be re-elected, or it can all fall apart. The stakes are incredibly high.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 2, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: His handling of Iraq and the war on terror are major reasons why President Bush is so popular right here at home. In the second part of Paula's conversation with our political poobah is Jeff Greenfield and Joe Klein, they take a look at some of the rising stars in from the world of politics in 2002 and beyond.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Political stars of the year?

JOE KLEIN, "TIME": George W. Bush, no question. Not only domestically, but I think that the move that they made to go to the United Nations and give the speech on September 12, just knocked the pins out of all the Europeans and liberal Democrats.

ZAHN: Because it was completely unexpected?

KLEIN: That's right, but it was also everything that he has done, with regards to Iraq, since September 12, has been unexceptionable.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, Karl Rove, whether he deserves it or not and he probably does, is now the Rasputin of the White House, the genius. Evil, if you're a Democrat, great if you're a Republican. If you look at rising political stars, I do think that two new Republican senators, Coleman of Minnesota and Talent of Missouri, both come in -- they're effective campaigners, they're both very smart. They're moderate conservatives.

And I think the incoming governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, the first Philadelphian to win the governorship in 90 years, has real potential. I mean, the age thing, the fact that he's 58. You know, if you're looking six years out, is that too old, too young? But this guy has something that Democrats really lack. He has strength. He has a kind of a non-cognant, you can't quantify it. But Rendell has the kind of as a political figure, he's able to take on his own core base, like the labor unions, and still get their support in the end.

KLEIN: About a month or so ago, I was down in South Carolina and watched Senator John Kerry and Senator John Edwards, both of them running for president or seem to be running for president, in Edwards case, both of them speaking to party faithfuls in South Carolina. Both of them got standing ovations. I've watched whole presidential cycles, where no one got a standing ovation. And so, those who say that this democratic -- emerging Democratic field is weak or dwarfs or whatever term you want to use, they're wrong.

ZAHN: Let's look ahead to 2003, very briefly, of course. The day that everybody is talking about is January 27 which, I guess, is the marker that everybody is going to use to decide whether we really we are, indeed, closer to war or not. What else should we be looking for next year?

KLEIN: January 28, which is George W. Bush's State of the Union address, where he may declare war, number one. But, number two, I think that, given the way things line up now, he has the conservative base of his party in his pocket and he can potentially move to the center and take a lot of issues that Democrats really care about, like prescription drug benefit, like patient's bill of rights, a whole bunch of other things.

ZAHN: Jeff?

GREENFIELD: If the Republicans reassure moderates that they're not -- particularly, moderate women -- that they're not going too far to the right. And if they make any inroad into the minority base -- African-American base and Democratic Party, I'm talking about winning them over, getting another 10 percent of them -- you will then see something like the realignment that everybody's been talking about and has never happened. That is not a prediction, it's simply a possibility.

KLEIN: Well, this is a huge, year for George W. Bush. Here is a guy who is elected under very questionable circumstances. Two years out, he's running, arguably, the most powerful White House of our generation, and this year, he's facing war and he's facing economy. And if he gets through this year, he could be in an incredibly powerful position to be re-elected, or it can all fall apart. The stakes are incredibly high.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com