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CNN Live Sunday

How Were President Bush's First 100 Days?

Aired April 29, 2001 - 17:13   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first hundred days that created this milestone, and no president since has accomplished as much as he did at the start of his presidency, but the work of every president since has been measured.

Joining us now from Washington to do just that with President Bush's first hundred days, Democratic consultant Peter Fenn and Republican media consultant Kim Alfano. Welcome to you both. Thanks for coming in on a Sunday afternoon.

And Kim Alfano, since you're busy catching your breath because of your last minute arrival, let me ask Peter Fenn first. You say, Peter, this hundred days feels like a thousand to you. Why?

PETER FENN, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Well, I'll tell you, we, of course, hope to be in driver's seat as Democrats. We're not in the driver's seat in the House. We're not in the driver's seat in the Senate and we certainly aren't in the driver's seat in the presidency. So, it's been a long 100 days for us.

But I think one of the things that's also made it long is that despite the rhetoric of this president and his administration trying to be compassionate conservative, they've gone very hard right. Here is the guy who said leave no child behind at five different stops at Boy's and Girl's Clubs around the country, and when he became president, he went out again to a Boy's and Girl's Club and he cut the $60 million, zeroed out the funding for Boy's and Girl's Clubs.

Here's a guy who is not putting the kind of money into education, primary and secondary education, that he should. He's putting forth a billion-dollar-a-year program for testing. I think we ought to improve our schools. We've got to do a lot better than this program, and I think Democrats have to step up to the plate and criticize the substantive policies. You don't have to be nasty. You don't have to be a disagreeable sort, but you should take him to task for his hard right policies.

FRAZIER: Well, we're going to talk some more about other issues, but let's turn to Kim now, because Kim, the president gave himself very high marks in his radio address yesterday and so do you. What are the successes that you see?

KIM ALFANO, REPUBLICAN MEDIA CONSULTANT: I mean, thank God they've got Peter on their side to try to push to that Democrat spin, but on our side, he's done exactly what he said he was going to do. In 100 days, he's had remarkable success. Here we are contemplating how big the tax cut is going to be. That's the most fundamental thing you can do for kids in this country, give their parents more time at home to spend with them to make sure that they're getting a quality life all around.

He's had great success with his first foreign policy crisis with China. Nobody expected him to handle it with such, I think, aplomb, and he did. He could have been a hot-head, yell at the Chinese and put our men and woman in danger. Instead, he acted maturely, got them out, and now he's being firm with China and I think that proved to a lot of people just how smart this president is.

And i think if you look at most everything else, it's only's been 100 days. There's what, 2,500 more, 2,700 more if you add it all up?

FRAZIER: Well, in fact, you say that in these hundred days it would hard to name any other president who's had this many successes. Are we quoting you correctly on that?

ALFANO: Yes, in modern time, since FDR, who has? Bill Clinton had a series of just abominable crisis, just gaffes and goofs in his first hundred days. I think to have the thing that's fundamentally on the front of everybody's mind in America almost to the point of being finished and taken care of and agreed upon by both Democrats and Republicans, the tax cut, is just huge in 100 days.

Plus, he had such a short period of time to get ready. If you remember, they were dealing with all sorts of things in the first 100 days, including coming up with a cabinet and deciding who was going to run what and where and it's been organized, I think, like a crack team of pros.

(CROSSTALK)

FRAZIER: Let's talk, though, about the tax cut itself, and Peter jump in on this, unless you want to go somewhere else.

FENN: Let me just make one comment about this because I think if you look at the first 100 days of Clinton versus Bush, the Clinton administration passed three times as many pieces of legislation. The first piece of legislation that he signed into law was the Family Medical Leave Act. The first piece of legislation that Bush signed into law was to commemorate Ronald Reagan's birthday. You know, he's renamed three post offices.

The fact is that if you look even at George Bush's father, he passed twice as many pieces of legislation in his first 100 days as Dubya has done. So, I think you have to look at the numbers here and the facts.

ALFANO: And the significance of the legislation.

FENN: But on the tax cut, I think it's important, and I think there's going to be a tax cut, there should be a tax cut, but I think that we have to be very careful to not make it so large that it endangers the economic future of this country.

And the scary thing about the bill that the president put forth, and I think it's not going to pass, thank goodness, is that it puts us in place 10 ten years with no trigger mechanisms to get us out if it if there were serious downturns in this economy, and Bush himself is concerned about the economy.

So, I worry a little bit about it because I think takes away from programs that help people, and it also endangers the future of our economic revival we've had this last...

FRAZIER: Well, Peter Fenn, you might greet with enthusiasm the fact that the tax cut will be a smaller one than the president originally proposed, but tell me, Kim Alfano, what you think of the fact he had to retreat a little bit from that $1.6 trillion that he repeatedly call just the right number? He did have to step down from that.

ALFANO: I'd say let's look at how far we're going to be able to go. I think Peter might also be a little bit worried that it might be a problem politically for Democrats if he does get this tax cut through because so many Americans want to see it happen, and to have it attributed and ascribed to Republican Party and George Bush is politically a problem for Democrats and I would say it's a victory.

It will be a substantial tax cut which will reach working men and woman across the country. It will reach household where families are struggling to have more time with their kids and it'll be a huge victory, and I would say it's probably more important to get this one substantive victory through, and I think through with -- and I think Peter is right. It'll matter who votes for it, and I think George Bush is going to get the Democrats to vote for it as well as the Republicans.

It's a necessity, and I think the country is going to be thrilled that it happened and I would say that it's exactly what we need because of economy -- because we are worried about the economy. It's exactly what families need in order to sort of spur this economy back to a vital healthy status.

(CROSSTALK)

FRAZIER: Peter, we've got to go, but you can get a final word in here, Peter.

FENN: I was just going to say one quick thing, and that is that the real problem with the tax cut is it does benefit the wealthiest of Americans, and I think what's going to happen in the next 10 years is that those families that make $25,000 to $75,000 a year are going to find that they didn't get much of a tax cut, and they're going to barely be able to get a set of tires and the guy that makes over 300 grand is going to get a Lexus.

(CROSSTALK)

FRAZIER: Tam Daschle's Lexus. FENN: Tom Daschle's Lexus.

ALFANO: That's good spin from the Democrats, as usual.

FRAZIER: Well, thank you both for filling us in with all that. We're not going to finish with this topic. We will talk about it later in length, but thank you very much now, Kim Alfano, Peter Fenn...

ALFANO: Thanks.

FRAZIER: ... thanks for coming in and joining us.

FENN: Thanks, Steven.

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