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American Morning

Is the Bush Agenda Overly Ambitious?

Aired May 07, 2001 - 11:40   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: Tax cuts, budget issues, U.S.-China relations: Those were all key issues during the first one hundred days of George W. Bush's presidency. So, what lies ahead in the second 100 days and beyond? Let's find out. We turn now to the answer man, our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, who's got some answers for us. He joins us from Washington.

Good to see you again, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: How are you, Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Listen, let's start with this agenda and some of the items that we just talked about. What do you make of this agenda that President Bush has right now? Some of his critics have been saying that it's just been overly ambitious?

SCHNEIDER: Well, that's the point. It is very ambitious and that's a surprise to a lot of people because, look, he barely got elected. He didn't carry the popular vote. There was no big mandate for change, and if he governed like his father, he wouldn't be governing with a big, ambitious agenda.

I once called his father the inbox president because the former President Bush governed, basically, by dealing with problems as they landed on his desk, but he never really promoted any kind of long-term ambitious agenda and that's one of the things that got him in trouble.

The younger George Bush is not governing like that at all. He has a very bold, very broad, very ambitious agenda. Look in the past week: Privatization of Social Security, he appointed a commission to look into the that; big change in energy policy towards more production, a power plant every week for the next number of years; and then national missile defense, a whole change in the way America has its nuclear strategy with respect to the rest of the world. Those are very big changes.

HARRIS: And some of the problems that the senior Bush had came from his own party, the right wing of his own party. Do you think that the younger Bush, now, is mindful of that and is trying to avoid that same thing happening with him?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I'm sure he's mindful of it. He was there when his father got in trouble, in large part because the conservative base of the Republican Party turned against him, and the current president, I think, is trying to make sure that he sews up his support on the right, that conservatives won't give him any trouble.

And so far, with one exception, and that is his education plan, conservatives have been delighted with the program President Bush has promoted, they love the tax cuts, they love the appointment of John Ashcroft, he has kept the faith with them. He's being very smart and trying to sew up conservative support.

They have some complaints about his education program because in order to get it through Congress and keep Democratic support, he had to compromise one some of the conservative objectives like school vouchers. So essentially, the education plan that's getting through Congress, they've had to toss out everything controversial. Conservatives aren't happy with that, but they're still sticking with President Bush.

HARRIS: What about the general public? How is the general public sticking with President Bush here? Do you see any breakdowns out there?

SCHNEIDER: Well, what's happening with the general public is kind of interesting. The most striking feature of the election of last November was it was a close election, of course, but men voted for Bush by a landslide. Women voted for Gore by a landslide. And Bush has continued to cater to his supporters among men. He's really building a base bigger than it was last winter among men voters because his plans for missile defense, privatization of Social Security, the tax cut, those are all more popular among men.

Men tend to favor policies that are innovative, that involve more competition, like vouchers competed with the public schools, like private insurance competing with Medicare. They like the idea of risk-taking and competition. Gore really ran on the safety net, which appealed more to women. So, what Bush is doing is cultivating a base not just among conservatives, but also among men.

HARRIS: Well, now that we have baseball at the White House, maybe we've even...

SCHNEIDER: And that's part of it. That's part of it.

HARRIS: There you go. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Thanks much. We'll talk to you later on down the road.

SCHNEIDER: OK, Leon.

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