White House Week
A President's Problem: Too Many Battles, Too Few Chits
Some administration officials are now saying that President Bush doesn't have enough political chits to pull off a victory on Social Security, given his other battles with Congress, which include the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, his federal court appointees, tax overhaul, energy legislation, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The officials, who agree with key congressional leadership aides, believe that Bush should instead put Social Security on the back burner, make reform "a goal," and turn up the heat on the other issues. The White House, however, is not ready to back down on revamping Social Security, despite grim assessments of its chances. A key aide says that Bush will soon begin personally lobbying for the package with critical members of Congress--as he is already doing for CAFTA.
Regarding the Gulag, Tell Me More
President Bush has shown an abiding interest in the plight of North Koreans caught up in that country's gulag--its constellation of political prisons believed to hold some 200,000 people. Last week, the president and Vice President Cheney hosted Kang Chul Hwan, a gulag survivor who fled North Korea and wrote about his experience--he nearly starved to death--in his book The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag. In recent weeks, however, Bush has seemed to mute his rhetoric about North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His past references to Kim as a "tyrant" --he once told journalist Bob Woodward that "I loathe Kim Jong Il!" --angered North Korea, which is defying the United States and other countries by staying away from talks on abandoning its nuclear weapons programs. When Bush recently used the honorific "Mr." before Kim's name, the change was noted approvingly in Pyongyang. With the North Koreans dangling the possibility of returning to the six-party nuclear talks, the Bush administration may be watching its words more carefully. But, for Bush, the stories of the camps remain utterly compelling.
Blair Seen Steering Bush Toward Africa
Instead of focusing on security, President Bush's main interest since 9/11, the Group of 8 economic summit next month in Gleneagles, Scotland, is expected to concentrate on debt relief and aid to Africa. Sources say that much of this is owed to Tony Blair, who supported Bush on Iraq and to whom Bush now listens. And Blair has made African debt relief and aid a centerpiece of Bush-Blair talks in recent weeks.
And Now, Iraq, a Right-to-Work State
A half-dozen Iraqi labor activists are on a 20-city U.S. tour, and their tales of woe are harrowing. In Washington last week they told of how their leaders have been assassinated, arrested, threatened, and fired from their jobs. Iraq's labor movement dates back to the 1920s, but it was crushed by Saddam Hussein in the '80s. Among the group's top frustrations today: U.S. and Iraqi officials have let stand a Saddam-era law that bans organizing in the public sector, which makes up most of the economy. "Here's an Iraqi group that works for secularism and democracy and is being treated like it's al Qaeda," says Alec Dubro of the International Labor Communications Association.
With Paul Bedard, Thomas Omestad and David E. Kaplan Paul Bedard, Thomas Omestad and David E. Kaplan Paul Bedard, Thomas Omestad and David E. Kaplan Paul Bedard, Thomas Omestad and David E. Kaplan
This story appears in the June 27, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.