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American Morning
The Bush Presidency: What's Next on the Agenda?
Aired July 19, 2001 - 11:21 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is well into his second major European trip.
To help us take a look at that, Ron Brownstein of the "L.A. Times" -- also a regular political contributor to us here at CNN -- is along.
Hi, Ron. Good to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.
KAGAN: The president meeting with the queen today, but also with Prime Minister Tony Blair -- how do these two world leaders see eye to eye?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, they are somewhat of an odd couple.
Tony Blair was very close to Bill Clinton. They were sort of partners in a joint project. They were trying to redefine the left in both of their countries. They both popularized the term "the third way."
Blair just ran a successful reelection campaign in England in which he basically excoriated the Tory Party for pursuing many of the same policies that George W. Bush has pursued here at home, particularly on tax cuts vs. new spending. But he has -- Blair -- for both international and domestic reasons, incentives to try to be more conciliatory toward Bush than many of the Continental leaders. And this week, both in interviews with American reporters and in the House of Commons itself, he said he wants to serve as a "bridge" -- that's his word -- between Bush and Europe.
KAGAN: I think there's two big hot-button issues we've been hearing about with this trip -- both the Kyoto global warming treaty and also missile defense. On Kyoto, Blair has come out and said that he really is in favor of the treaty. But on missile defense, he's been kind of holding back, hasn't he?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, when I was over there covering the election a few weeks ago, I really got the sense that the British government, like the European governments, is very skeptical of what Bush wants to do. But they don't really want to get involved in trying to stop it.
I mean, they don't really think they have the leverage to stop it, on the one hand. And they don't want to do the damage to U.S./British relations that it would entail to try to stop it. I think their hope is that somehow it gets stopped in other ways -- either by the Democrats in Congress or by the systems themselves not proving up to snuff technologically. But if Bush does go ahead -- as he has indicated -- as Paul Wolfowitz said in testimony -- the deputy defense secretary -- last week -- to pull out of the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Treaty within months, not years, that is going to force more of a decision on Blair than perhaps he's wanted. He is really going to have to take a stand at that point.
KAGAN: And then real quick, Ron, back here at home meanwhile, a House and Senate committee -- conference committee looking at Bush's education reform. Boy, I remember when this one was the top of the headline. This really has gotten pushed down, hasn't it?
BROWNSTEIN: It really has. It's taken them a long time to appoint the conference committee to settle the differences between the House and the Senate. As it is, Daryn, even starting now, they're not expecting to finish until September.
Some things are clear. There's going to be more testing for students, which parents may or may not like. And if schools fail to improve student performance, there's going to be more options for parents. I mean, one of the things they may like in this bill is that, in schools that fail to improve student performance, parents are going to get federally funded stipends to buy after-school tutoring for their kids. The biggest dispute in the Congress is going...
KAGAN: But don't call it vouchers, right?
BROWNSTEIN: Don't call it vouchers, because it doesn't go to -- and that really is a hot button.
The biggest dispute in this conference, though, is going to be: How do you define which schools are failing? It's a mind-numbingly complex problem. And the big city school superintendents are afraid that too many schools are going to be deemed to be failing. That's one issue.
The other big dispute is going to be over money: how much money goes in along with these new standards, with Democrats asking for a lot more than President Bush.
KAGAN: You will be tracking it. We'll definitely have you back.
Ron Brownstein, here at CNN and also the "L.A. Times," thank you.
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