White House Chess: Bush Readies Strategy

U.S. News Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh has these two tidbits for us:

Bush Is Marshalling Allies for Confrontation With Dems ...

The sparks are expected to fly at President Bush's meeting with Democratic congressional leaders Wednesday at the White House. The topic will be Iraq, and neither side has shown much willingness to compromise so far.

As a result, the face-to-face session should test everyone's patience, including that of the public. The public is less interested in contest than compromise, and Democratic pollster Geoff Garin says the president has the most to lose. In Garin's assessment, which reflects the thinking of many key Democrats, it's the president who will have the most trouble maintaining public favor over the long run amid the current antiwar environment.

"When the president says it's not a negotiation, the public definitely wants something more than just 'my way or the highway' from the president," Garin says. But Bush thinks otherwise. "Congress needs to pass an emergency war spending bill without strings and without further delay," he said this morning at a White House ceremony honoring U.S. troops.

Bush said those troops show a "desire to succeed and determination to prevail," and he said victory in Iraq is imperative. He added that congressional Democrats have passed "legislation that would undercut our troops" by imposing "restrictions on our military commanders" and setting a timetable for withdrawal. So when Bush meets with Democratic leaders on Wednesday, he will ask them to explain how they will send him a 'clean' bill, that is, one without a timetable for withdrawal and one without extraneous pork barrel projects.

Democrats sense a trap. Insiders say they suspect Bush will let the opposition leaders present their differing views on the Iraq war in the Wednesday encounter and then, afterward, he will use his bully pulpit to portray the Democrats as hopelessly divided and heading down the path toward surrender, while he has a plan for victory. But at this point, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believe they have little choice but to participate. To stiff the commander in chief on the meeting would make them look spiteful and stubborn--an image they of course want to avoid.

... But Really, He's Not Mad, Just Determined

Contrary to media speculation, President Bush isn't angry over his dispute with majority Democrats in Congress over the supplemental funding bill for the Iraq war--or over possible subpoenas of his key advisers on other matters.

"He's not angry--he's determined," says a senior White House official. "He's focused and he's committed to making sure the troops have what they need." And there is no behind-the-scenes venting. "What he says in public is what he says in private," the official told U.S. News. But Bush's aides are indeed miffed at any characterization of the president as insulated from criticism and alternative views. "That's an obnoxious thing to say," especially for members of Congress, who should know better, the official notes. "He's talking to them; he's not insulated."

The aide raised the prospect that perhaps the Democrats are motivated by polls that suggest attacking the president's "isolation" will undermine his policies. Bush also has an unflappable attitude about the subpoenas that the Democrats are threatening to issue against a variety of administration officials in various congressional inquiries and investigations.

"We will deal with it as it comes," the official says. "We hope they exercise restraint instead of going on fishing expeditions."