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CNN Live At Daybreak

What President Bush Will Do on His Texas Vacation

Aired August 01, 2001 - 08:34   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is going to brave the Texas heat of August to spend his vacation, or most of it at least, at his ranch near Crawford. John Dickerson is one of two White House correspondents for "Time" magazine. He comes to us from Washington to report on what the president will do at the ranch. John, thanks for being here.

This issue of embryonic stem cell research. Let's start with that. It's a huge decision. President Bush has already said how personal it is to him, how important it is. And people are saying this really could be a defining issue of his presidency. Do you think it will be? I mean, it is right up there with no-new taxes of his father?

JOHN DICKERSON, "TIME": Well, people have tried to make that case. And it depends on what final decision is, and more importantly, how he explains his final decision to the American people. So it will be quite important. It's likely to come while he's on vacation, and it probably will be the biggest challenge the White House faces, other than perhaps some foreign policy nightmare, while he's away.

MCEDWARDS: Is that what you're hearing, that he's actually going to announce the decision while he's away. I know that's out there?

DICKERSON: Well, yes, but the rumors about when he's going to make his stem cell decision have been bubbling up for about the last two months. But our best information says that he's probably going to make some kind of decision while he's away in the next month.

MCEDWARDS: So who is he talking to?

DICKERSON: While he's on vacation. Well, he's talking...

MCEDWARDS: On this issue, I mean, who is influencing him here?

DICKERSON: He's talking on wide range of people. He's talking to religious leaders, across all denominations. He's talking to political advisers. He's talking to his friends and to Republican -- sort of members of the Republican family. He's talking to doctors. He's really tested a wide range of opinion. And the thing about this decision is it really comes down just to the president. And he's going to have to articulate sort of his intellectual process in trying to come up with the decision, which is not an easy task. MCEDWARDS: And based on what you know of them, what kind of thinker and what kind of decision maker is he. I mean, is he really going through a consensus-building exercise in his mind only to come out with his own morality on it, or how do you think he's working through this?

DICKERSON: He's a gut-level decision maker, which is why this is a very difficult decision, because normally he goes with what his instinct tells them. He likes the sort of short executive summaries. This issue does not work well on a short executive summary level.

MCEDWARDS: Sure doesn't. Sure doesn't. Go ahead.

DICKERSON: Well, I was just going to say that this is the kind of thing also that requires, again, as I mentioned before, an articulation of sort of his intellectual development on this, and that's not usually the way he operates. He has a feeling, he goes with it, and moves on and goes forward. There's not a lot of naval gazing that goes on with this president.

MCEDWARDS: How much an influence do you think the first lady will have on this issue? I assume she's going to be there with him.

DICKERSON: She has a great amount of influence. She's told us that she's made up her mind. She hasn't told us what her final decision has been, but she has a lot of influence on him. I'm sure they've discussed it, and I'm sure also we'll never learn what her actual advice to him was.

MCEDWARDS: Is this a lot of time off for a president, John?

DICKERSON: Well, yes, and no. His critics would like to make the case that this is another piece of evidence that he doesn't really have his hands on the levers of power. But plenty of presidents have taken long vacations. Ronald Reagan was off in his eight years almost 330 days. Calvin Coolidge took off an entire summer. The president is going to be spending some time on the road in kind of a campaign- style. He's going to leave Crawford a few times and do some events, and they will make sure that we get a sufficient diet of images showing that he is, in fact, still on the job.

MCEDWARDS: And does he take full staff with him, all that?

DICKERSON: Some of staff will be on vacation. He'll have some staff there. And there'll be sort of cycling in and out, but there's no job that has a better communication set up. So telecommuting is quite easy for him.

MCEDWARDS: You know, if he ends up announcing his decision on embryonic stem cell research, you know, while there, is he going to face criticism that that's somehow an effort to avoid the heat on this issue?

DICKERSON: He's sure to face criticism. And as I said, there are a lot of Democrats who'd like to sort of paint him as out of touch. I think it will depend on the White House stagecraft. How do they make the president look on this issue? And it's the kind of thing that he could even have a national televised address on, in order to sort of tell the American people the level of severity and the seriousness of which he takes the decision. So that will be a challenge for the White House folks, but I don't think it makes a terribly big difference whether he announces his decision in Crawford or at the White House.

MCEDWARDS: All right, John Dickerson of "Time" magazine, thanks very for your time this morning, appreciate it.

DICKERSON: Thank you.

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