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Politics Behind Bush's Moon Push

Aired January 14, 2004 - 14:32   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In about 45 minutes from now President Bush is expected to ask Congress to sign a huge check for NASA. Mr. Bush wants to boost the agency's funding by a billion dollars in order to pay for the manned missions to the moon and Mars.
But do Americans think it's worth the money? Last month, a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows most Americans supported sending astronauts to the moon but two-thirds said they were against spending money to do it. They want a free ride. Don't we all.

Senior political analyst Bill Schneider always likes a free ride as well. Nevertheless, works hard for his money.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's why I'm here.

O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider, good to have you with us. That says a lot about the support for space. Mile wide, inch deep.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. It means it's a good idea but if it costs us something, we have better ideas of what we can do with that money.

O'BRIEN: Factor this into the political machinations of the White House. Why. if you're strictly looking at this from a political standpoint in a campaign season, why would you float an idea like this?

SCHNEIDER: Because it's not ideological and it doesn't sound political. It's spending money for a Republican, money that the country doesn't have. It isn't a left wing idea or a right wing idea. It reaches beyond that.

Men like the idea and so do young people, for that matter. They're sort of entranced by the idea of manned missions, exploration, of outer space. So it's beyond politics which the president would like to be now while the Democrats are in Iowa mired in politics.

O'BRIEN: So men like it, the cool factor, after all. Women don't. Why not?

SCHNEIDER: Because women can think of many better things to do with that money much closer to home. Women worry a lot more about things like health care or children, parents because those are often women's responsibilities. Men are willing to take bigger risks.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting because up until the Columbia loss a year ago, you didn't hear the president talking about space. Didn't seem to be a front burner issue, at least in his public life.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. His father did talk about space. It was interesting, his father talked about some of the same things the president is going to talk about in a few minutes. And what happened to his father's bold program for outer space? There was a big recession and the thing just got buried by Congress.

O'BRIEN: It came back. That proposal was extremely expensive, $400 billion. It had all the tail fin and chrome you could ever imagine.

Let's talk about some political realities here for a moment. Is it no coincidence perhaps, or is it a coincidence, that the biggest job center in the NASA manned mission is Florida, 40,000 some odd jobs there. Florida is an important state, as I recall.

SCHNEIDER: Very interesting, isn't It? that's where the space missions go off. If this can provide 40,000 jobs in Florida, at least holds out the prospect of doing that, then the president looks like a friend of Florida. A friend of Florida can get you pretty far in this country.

O'BRIEN: Of course, the other big place for manned spaceflight, Houston, Texas.

SCHNEIDER: That's a down home issue. I don't think the president is worried about losing Texas. He won't have to fight for Texas. But in any case, it's first in his heart because that's where he was governor and Florida is where his brother is governor. So what's the problem? It's helping out the family.

O'BRIEN: Florida and Texas, two places close to home and his heart.

In the context of what we've just seen with the announcement on the changes in the immigration laws, does this all fit part of a continuum and strategy you see?

SCHNEIDER: I see a strategy with the immigration law, which he reached beyond base because conservatives don't particularly like what the president proposed. The space issue goes way beyond politics. And even his proposals to encourage stable marriages among poor people, those are all ways of reaching outside of politics, reaching out to people who aren't really part of his political base.

O'BRIEN: In another time we might have called it the vision thing.

SCHNEIDER: That's what he hopes you will call it.

O'BRIEN: The vision thing. Bill Schneider, a man with a lot of the vision thing. Thanks for dropping by. 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 January 14, 2004 - 14:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In about 45 minutes from now President Bush is expected to ask Congress to sign a huge check for NASA. Mr. Bush wants to boost the agency's funding by a billion dollars in order to pay for the manned missions to the moon and Mars.
But do Americans think it's worth the money? Last month, a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows most Americans supported sending astronauts to the moon but two-thirds said they were against spending money to do it. They want a free ride. Don't we all.

Senior political analyst Bill Schneider always likes a free ride as well. Nevertheless, works hard for his money.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's why I'm here.

O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider, good to have you with us. That says a lot about the support for space. Mile wide, inch deep.

SCHNEIDER: Yes. It means it's a good idea but if it costs us something, we have better ideas of what we can do with that money.

O'BRIEN: Factor this into the political machinations of the White House. Why. if you're strictly looking at this from a political standpoint in a campaign season, why would you float an idea like this?

SCHNEIDER: Because it's not ideological and it doesn't sound political. It's spending money for a Republican, money that the country doesn't have. It isn't a left wing idea or a right wing idea. It reaches beyond that.

Men like the idea and so do young people, for that matter. They're sort of entranced by the idea of manned missions, exploration, of outer space. So it's beyond politics which the president would like to be now while the Democrats are in Iowa mired in politics.

O'BRIEN: So men like it, the cool factor, after all. Women don't. Why not?

SCHNEIDER: Because women can think of many better things to do with that money much closer to home. Women worry a lot more about things like health care or children, parents because those are often women's responsibilities. Men are willing to take bigger risks.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting because up until the Columbia loss a year ago, you didn't hear the president talking about space. Didn't seem to be a front burner issue, at least in his public life.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. His father did talk about space. It was interesting, his father talked about some of the same things the president is going to talk about in a few minutes. And what happened to his father's bold program for outer space? There was a big recession and the thing just got buried by Congress.

O'BRIEN: It came back. That proposal was extremely expensive, $400 billion. It had all the tail fin and chrome you could ever imagine.

Let's talk about some political realities here for a moment. Is it no coincidence perhaps, or is it a coincidence, that the biggest job center in the NASA manned mission is Florida, 40,000 some odd jobs there. Florida is an important state, as I recall.

SCHNEIDER: Very interesting, isn't It? that's where the space missions go off. If this can provide 40,000 jobs in Florida, at least holds out the prospect of doing that, then the president looks like a friend of Florida. A friend of Florida can get you pretty far in this country.

O'BRIEN: Of course, the other big place for manned spaceflight, Houston, Texas.

SCHNEIDER: That's a down home issue. I don't think the president is worried about losing Texas. He won't have to fight for Texas. But in any case, it's first in his heart because that's where he was governor and Florida is where his brother is governor. So what's the problem? It's helping out the family.

O'BRIEN: Florida and Texas, two places close to home and his heart.

In the context of what we've just seen with the announcement on the changes in the immigration laws, does this all fit part of a continuum and strategy you see?

SCHNEIDER: I see a strategy with the immigration law, which he reached beyond base because conservatives don't particularly like what the president proposed. The space issue goes way beyond politics. And even his proposals to encourage stable marriages among poor people, those are all ways of reaching outside of politics, reaching out to people who aren't really part of his political base.

O'BRIEN: In another time we might have called it the vision thing.

SCHNEIDER: That's what he hopes you will call it.

O'BRIEN: The vision thing. Bill Schneider, a man with a lot of the vision thing. Thanks for dropping by. 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