Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Discussing War & Economy

Aired May 02, 2003 - 13:47   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: Let's get back to the president of the United States, as he continues his victory lap. He didn't use the "V" word on the flat top there, the USS Abraham Lincoln, as he continues pressing the flesh up there in Silicon Valley. But it sure feels like he's basking in victory right now.
CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining us from Washington.

The president trying his best to combine guns with butter, saying you don't have to make a choice.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right, the president is saying that the session was caused by the necessity of spending money on the war, which was an emergency, and he made an interesting connection. He said the unemployment figures today went up, and that looks back, should be bad news for him. He said what it is a signal to Congress that what this country needs is bold, robust tax relief. He said, it's a message that we've got to act quickly on his plan, which is to cut taxes, in order to stimulate jobs and growth.

O'BRIEN: You know, it's interesting he went to Silicon Valley, which is of course the absolute nexus of the bubble, and contrarily, the nexus of the burst of that bubble. Any coincidence there, or do you think that was quite purposeful?

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, it's very close to where he was yesterday on that battleship. He took advantage of the opportunity to go where economic concerns tend to be the most severe. What the president is doing, is a campaign right out of the war to try to rally the American people behind his tax relief program, arguing it is an economic stimulus program, a way to get jobs and growth in this country.

Democrats of course have been attacking this as a tax cut for the rich. They have been saying that they don't see any connection between this tax cut and economic stimulus. They have other ways of doing it. So the president is using his war popularity to try to sell a tax cut package, which -- there's one strange thing about it. It ought to be easy. He's got a 70 percent approval rating. The economy's in trouble. This is a tax cut. He's not calling for sacrifice. And yet the American people have been a little bit skeptical about this, their sort of mixed in their view about whether this is the way to go.

So he's trying to start a campaign to sell what ought to be a fairly easy sell.

O'BRIEN: The political equivalent of making hay while the sun is shining.

SCHNEIDER: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: I'm curious about how this compares to the days immediately after post-Gulf War One and the Senior Bush.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, the comparison is usually made that the senior Bush didn't have much of an economic program. He didn't really articulate one until months and months later, when Americans had basically given up. He couldn't argue, as this President Bush just did, stay the course, because to a lot of voters, and especially to his own party, he had abandoned the course when he decided to raise taxes in 1990. This president has the image of a strong leader, more like, say, Ronald Reagan than like his own father. And when he said stay the course, like we did in Iraq, a lot of Americans are willing to do that.

O'BRIEN: All right, read my lips, Bill Schneider, thank you very much. Always a pleasure having you with us. We appreciate it.

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 May 2, 2003 - 13:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get back to the president of the United States, as he continues his victory lap. He didn't use the "V" word on the flat top there, the USS Abraham Lincoln, as he continues pressing the flesh up there in Silicon Valley. But it sure feels like he's basking in victory right now.
CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining us from Washington.

The president trying his best to combine guns with butter, saying you don't have to make a choice.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right, the president is saying that the session was caused by the necessity of spending money on the war, which was an emergency, and he made an interesting connection. He said the unemployment figures today went up, and that looks back, should be bad news for him. He said what it is a signal to Congress that what this country needs is bold, robust tax relief. He said, it's a message that we've got to act quickly on his plan, which is to cut taxes, in order to stimulate jobs and growth.

O'BRIEN: You know, it's interesting he went to Silicon Valley, which is of course the absolute nexus of the bubble, and contrarily, the nexus of the burst of that bubble. Any coincidence there, or do you think that was quite purposeful?

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, it's very close to where he was yesterday on that battleship. He took advantage of the opportunity to go where economic concerns tend to be the most severe. What the president is doing, is a campaign right out of the war to try to rally the American people behind his tax relief program, arguing it is an economic stimulus program, a way to get jobs and growth in this country.

Democrats of course have been attacking this as a tax cut for the rich. They have been saying that they don't see any connection between this tax cut and economic stimulus. They have other ways of doing it. So the president is using his war popularity to try to sell a tax cut package, which -- there's one strange thing about it. It ought to be easy. He's got a 70 percent approval rating. The economy's in trouble. This is a tax cut. He's not calling for sacrifice. And yet the American people have been a little bit skeptical about this, their sort of mixed in their view about whether this is the way to go.

So he's trying to start a campaign to sell what ought to be a fairly easy sell.

O'BRIEN: The political equivalent of making hay while the sun is shining.

SCHNEIDER: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: I'm curious about how this compares to the days immediately after post-Gulf War One and the Senior Bush.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, the comparison is usually made that the senior Bush didn't have much of an economic program. He didn't really articulate one until months and months later, when Americans had basically given up. He couldn't argue, as this President Bush just did, stay the course, because to a lot of voters, and especially to his own party, he had abandoned the course when he decided to raise taxes in 1990. This president has the image of a strong leader, more like, say, Ronald Reagan than like his own father. And when he said stay the course, like we did in Iraq, a lot of Americans are willing to do that.

O'BRIEN: All right, read my lips, Bill Schneider, thank you very much. Always a pleasure having you with us. We appreciate it.

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