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CNN Sunday Morning

Beginning Bush Days a Mixed Bag

Aired April 29, 2001 - 09:15   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.
JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: It's time now to get a report card on George W. Bush's first 100 days as president. He faced some difficult moments and his honeymoon with Congress has not been all warm and fuzzy.

For more perspective on the early days of the Bush administration, we're joined now by Ron Brownstein of the "Los Angeles Times."

Good morning to you, Ron.

RON BROWNSTEIN, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Good morning.

CARROLL: So why don't you do us a favor -- give him a grade. What do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Boy, it's hard to give a grade. I think that on -- in terms of organizing the presidency and for the carrying the White House, you really have to give them an A. They really have made very few mistakes. You haven't had the sense of rough settling in that Clinton did at the beginning of his presidency.

Substantively, in terms of how he is getting Congress to go along with his agenda, I'd probably say we're going to end up with a B. And a B is probably what we're going to see for a long time. Bush is showing the power of the presidency, to shift the whole framework of debate in his direction whether it's taxes or education or really any other issue.

But he doesn't have enough control of Congress, a big enough majority or a strong enough mandate to get exactly what he wants. You see that on the tax bill. You see that on the education bill. And I think that's a pattern we're going to see for quite a while through his presidency.

CARROLL: Well, I know that he's been heavily criticized for his stance on the environment, particularly dealing with arsenic levels in drinking water. Last night during the Correspondence Dinner in Washington D.C., he used a little bit of humor to tackle that particular issue. I want you listen in and then get your reaction to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dan, Neil, Darro (ph), Marvin and Jeb; in my family with all those kids in the tub, it's not arsenic in the water I'd be worried about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So he used humor there. He also, as you know, used humor in tackling the issue of folks who were complaining about his use of grammar. What do you think about that strategy? Is that working?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, it is. I mean I think the thing that's working best for Bush broadly is that he's ingratiating himself with the public, I think, very well. I think the public likes his approach to the presidency.

You know it's often said that we elect a president as a remedy almost against what we saw as the excesses of the predecessor -- Carter after Nixon was deceivingly honest; Reagan after Carter was strong. Bush is sort of pulling back the presidency. He's not nearly as visible. He's not nearly as assertive, as sort of in your face as Clinton was. You don't have the sense of analyst drama. You never know what's going to come next. And it's sort of almost a return to normalcy as Warren Harding said a long time ago. And I think people like that style.

The question is whether he is making as much progress as selling his agenda. In some ways, the low profile that's giving him those positive marks and sort of personal handing of the presidency, are taking away one of the tools that has a president has to sell his agenda, which is the use of the bully pulpit.

CARROLL: One final question for you here Ron, again, he's high in the polls but I'm wondering do you see anything perhaps within the next 100 days that could derail him?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I do think that -- two things -- obviously the economy. The president is running much higher now than the sense of optimism about the country. Usually those two lines converge so that could be a tug downward on him.

The other thing I think, is a little more subtle, which is that when Washington is in high conflict, when he was battling with the Democrats over regulation and taxes in March, his numbers did dip. And the pattern of the Clinton presidency is that as well. People really do, I think, want to see the two parties get along and make reasonable compromises.

If he pursues the strategy that he did on the budget, a highly confrontational one, trying to push through things in a 51-50, basically party-line vote, he could face some reversion in his numbers again because I do think the public overall or more than anything want them to fulfill that desire to change the way things get done in Washington and to produce narrow -- or more bipartisanship.

CARROLL: All right. We'll be watching very closely. Ron Brown stein from "The Los Angeles Times." Thanks so very much for getting up so very early and joining us this morning.

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