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President Bush Chimes in on Affirmative Action
Aired January 15, 2003 - 11:24 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: What we're hearing here is that President Bush is maybe about to step into the center of a potential political mine field today. The issue is affirmative action, and Mr. Bush is expected to come out and oppose a program at the University of Michigan giving preferences to African-American and Hispanic applicants.
Now, this is part of an administration brief to be filed with the Supreme Court. The president appears to be walking something of a political tightrope, trying to appease conservative backers, while trying to appear not to be racially insensitive.
Let's get the latest now from CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash, who checks in from the White House.
Hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
Well, that brief that you were just talking about is due at the Supreme Court tomorrow. The president met with advisers last night, talking about how he intends to make a statement on this issue. He also is meeting with advisers today, talking about it as well.
But like you said, sources say that he does intend to oppose the program at the University of Michigan, which gives preferences to minority students there. The president is trying to figure out what exactly what else he wants to say in his statement, because the president, as according to the spokesman, and of course, just looking at his record, has long opposed racial quotas.
But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, not confirming what the president will do, insists he wants to make it clear he believes diversity is an important goal. Fleischer also reminded reporters that the president back when he was governor of Texas supported a program there that didn't have any quotas, per se, at the university system in Texas, but did allow the top 10 percent of high school graduates to attend that school. That's something that the president, that kind of thing is something that the president supports, but this is, like you said, Leon, a very politically dicey situation, because the president wants to please conservatives and stick with his past record of opposing racial quotas, but it's at a time when the Republican Party and administration is trying to reach out to minorities, particularly in light of the Trent Lott controversy, where he made comments saying that he supported a is he segregationist candidate in 1948 -- Leon. HARRIS: See, and that's the reason why this is surprising so many people to hear him coming out and staking this position on this. What do we know about where the fault lines lie within the White House on the debate on this, and then who may be on which side.
BASH: Well, our understanding is that there are officials at the Justice Department, which is where this brief will actually come to pass, the solicitor general would offer it to the Supreme Court, and our understanding is that the solicitor general had also -- and other officials at the Justice Department really believed the president needs to stick to his guns and say that racial quotas are wrong and oppose this program straight out.
But there are other political factors here, and like I mentioned before, that they want to make sure that the president states clearly that he is for diversity in America, and that's kind of where the fault lines are here -- Leon.
HARRIS: Dana Bash at the White House, got you. We'll see you soon.
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 15, 2003 - 11:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: What we're hearing here is that President Bush is maybe about to step into the center of a potential political mine field today. The issue is affirmative action, and Mr. Bush is expected to come out and oppose a program at the University of Michigan giving preferences to African-American and Hispanic applicants.
Now, this is part of an administration brief to be filed with the Supreme Court. The president appears to be walking something of a political tightrope, trying to appease conservative backers, while trying to appear not to be racially insensitive.
Let's get the latest now from CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash, who checks in from the White House.
Hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
Well, that brief that you were just talking about is due at the Supreme Court tomorrow. The president met with advisers last night, talking about how he intends to make a statement on this issue. He also is meeting with advisers today, talking about it as well.
But like you said, sources say that he does intend to oppose the program at the University of Michigan, which gives preferences to minority students there. The president is trying to figure out what exactly what else he wants to say in his statement, because the president, as according to the spokesman, and of course, just looking at his record, has long opposed racial quotas.
But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, not confirming what the president will do, insists he wants to make it clear he believes diversity is an important goal. Fleischer also reminded reporters that the president back when he was governor of Texas supported a program there that didn't have any quotas, per se, at the university system in Texas, but did allow the top 10 percent of high school graduates to attend that school. That's something that the president, that kind of thing is something that the president supports, but this is, like you said, Leon, a very politically dicey situation, because the president wants to please conservatives and stick with his past record of opposing racial quotas, but it's at a time when the Republican Party and administration is trying to reach out to minorities, particularly in light of the Trent Lott controversy, where he made comments saying that he supported a is he segregationist candidate in 1948 -- Leon. HARRIS: See, and that's the reason why this is surprising so many people to hear him coming out and staking this position on this. What do we know about where the fault lines lie within the White House on the debate on this, and then who may be on which side.
BASH: Well, our understanding is that there are officials at the Justice Department, which is where this brief will actually come to pass, the solicitor general would offer it to the Supreme Court, and our understanding is that the solicitor general had also -- and other officials at the Justice Department really believed the president needs to stick to his guns and say that racial quotas are wrong and oppose this program straight out.
But there are other political factors here, and like I mentioned before, that they want to make sure that the president states clearly that he is for diversity in America, and that's kind of where the fault lines are here -- Leon.
HARRIS: Dana Bash at the White House, got you. We'll see you soon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
