Political Bulletin

WASHINGTON NEWS

Bush Balanced Budget Challenges Congress

With Democrats poised to take control of Congress tomorrow, President Bush is reaching out, offering to work with the new Hill majorities in governing the country. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning, Bush says he "will have the privilege of working with" the Democrats "for the next two years -- one quarter of my presidency, plenty of time to accomplish important things for the American people. ... To do that, however, we can't play politics as usual." But, as the Wall Street Journal and AP note in their analysis of the op-ed, the President sounded a tone of bipartisanship, but makes it clear he won't back down from his stated priorities on terrorism and Iraq. In addition, the President appears to be readying a gambit on the domestic front: This morning, he announces that he will propose a plan to "balance the federal budget by 2012 while funding our priorities and making the tax cuts permanent." While 2012 comes four years after the end of Bush's presidency, the balanced-budget issue could potentially give Republicans an issue to rally around while splitting the Democratic caucus.

At any rate, chances for bipartisanship do not appear strong in Washington, DC. Gannett News Service reports incoming House speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi "has vowed to push six key measures during the first 100 legislative hours of the 110th Congress, which begins Thursday." But the Washington Post reports Democratic leaders "are facing mounting pressure from liberal activists to chart a more confrontational course on Iraq and the issues of human rights and civil liberties, with some even calling for the impeachment of President Bush."

Also criticizing the Democrats' "limited" agenda is Mario Cuomo, who writes in USA Today's website, "After years of chaos in Iraq, which has led to neglect of many critical domestic issues, voters are looking for dramatic ideas and courageous leadership to deal with the nation's most difficult challenges. ... So far, the Democratic agenda...offers a laudable but light list of issues, such as increasing the minimum wage, greater stem cell availability, job training benefits and adopting ethics reforms. I doubt that kind of agenda would be enough to keep control of the Congress, let alone to win the next presidency."

House and Senate Republicans, meanwhile, appear to have settled on their opening approach to the new majority that will be critical -- though not harshly so -- of Democratic moves during the first month. "We're still feeling our way, obviously, but for the first couple of weeks we won't be bombastic," a senior House GOP leadership aide tells the US News Political Bulletin. "They won so we'll let them have their day," added the aide. Another aide said that the Republicans also don't want to look like they are being mean to Nancy Pelosi, who is to be elected the first-ever woman House speaker.

Poll Finds Support For Democratic Goals The AP reports, "Two of the Democrats' top goals -- a higher minimum wage and federal funding of embryonic stem cell research -- enjoy broad public support." An Associated Press-AOL News poll found "80% of respondents support increasing the minimum wage," and "nearly seven of 10 adults, 69 percent, favor the government taking steps to make it easier for people to buy prescription drugs from other countries, where some medicines cost significantly less than in the US."

Bush May Expedite Iraq Speech

The US News Political Bulletin has learned that White House insiders and outside advisers believe that President Bush's speech on the way forward in Iraq may come sooner than later. The White House is getting anxious that the Bush plan, not yet announced, is already being picked apart by the media and members of Congress -- especially on the matter of a surge of troops. Because of this, word is that the Bush speech may come as early as the end of this week or the beginning of next week. It will all play into the big question being asked around Washington, with Congress starting its 2007 session this week: What can the President accomplish this year? First and foremost, the Administration will need to drum up support for Bush's new war plan. "The 800-pound gorilla in the room is the war," a senior Bush adviser tells the Political Bulletin. Adds a former adviser to Ronald Reagan: "President Bush has put all his chips in the middle of the table on Iraq. Either he gets it right this time, or we lose the next election." Capitol Hill insiders say most congressional Democrats aren't ready to impose severe spending restraints on the conduct of the war, much less cut off funding totally as some anti-war firebrands advocate. At least not yet. But if the situation in Iraq doesn't improve or gets worse, there is a good prospect that majority Democrats will impose conditions on spending in Iraq, such as requiring the Baghdad government to reach specific "benchmarks" for taking over the war and restoring stability. "In political terms, that way they keep the issue alive, and we are on the losing end of that issue right now," says a senior GOP adviser.

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Saddam Hanging Under Relentless Fire

Saddam Hussein's hanging continues to generate sharply negative media coverage. With international disapproval of the execution running high, as the New York Times reports, much of the media is focusing on the Iraqi government's attempt to contain the PR damage stemming from events surrounding the hanging, notably on how a cell phone camera film was permitted. NBC Nightly News noted the Iraqis are launching an investigation one that, says the Washington Post, "could implicate senior Iraqi officials." Munqith al-Faroun, the deputy prosecutor in Hussein's trial, "said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he saw two official observers using their cellphones to record Hussein's last moments." The two men, he said, were "recording through their mobiles openly."

Newspaper opinion pages continue to express dissatisfaction with how the execution was carried out. The New York Times' Thomas Friedman says it "resembled a tribal revenge ritual rather than the culmination of a constitutional process in which America should be proud to have participated." The "raw tribal theatrics of Saddam's hanging highlight just how few" of America's "values Iraq has imported." Similarly negative assessments appear in newspapers across the country, such as the Sacramento Bee, Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe and Norfolk Virginian Pilot.

Some opinion writers beg to differ: Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas writes, "In the end Saddam's execution wasn't about revenge. It was about justice." And Marty Peretz, editor-in-chief of The New Republic, writes in the Wall Street Journal that "a community can punish its own pharaohs. That punishment will be the most significant sovereign act the people of Iraq have ever done. This is an act of recovery by itself."

Nation Honors Ford

Amid universal praise, former presidents and senior aides paid homage to President Gerald Ford yesterday. Much of the coverage notes the atmosphere of national unity yesterday, and described Ford as the embodiment of an era of bipartisan cooperation. The New York Times says Ford "was remembered on Tuesday as bringing the ordinary virtues of decency, integrity and humility to mend a broken government after the pain of war and scandal." The Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Washington Times, McClatchy and The Hill, among other papers, run similar assessments of Ford's legacy. Less complimentary was New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who wrote this morning, "None of the eulogists [of President Ford] noted the irony that the man who ushered out one long national nightmare had ushered in another, the one we're living in now. It was Gerald Ford, after all, who gave America the gift of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld -- the gift that keeps on taking."

Other angles explored by the media this morning: The Washington Post says in "sharp contrast to the commentary after the death of former president Ronald Reagan, there were no remembrances of Ford as an architect of modern conservatism or a force behind the GOP's ascendance." The Republicans have "turned away from Ford's conservatism, moving sharply to the right ideologically and to the South and West geographically."

USA Today says disagreements over Iraq have fractured the group of living ex-presidents. Meanwhile, In his "Washington Sketch" column for the Washington Post, Dana Milbank notes Tom Brokaw eulogized Ford, and adds, "For Bush, it must have been a jarring moment. The current president would probably have Hugo Chavez deliver his eulogy before he would bestow the honor on a member of the White House press corps."

Robertson Predicts Big Terror Attack

The AP reports, "In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in 'mass killing' late in 2007."

Ellison To Use Jefferson's Koran

In its "Reliable Source" column, the Washington Post reports that Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, "the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran." But Ellison, "in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson," an English translation published in the 18th century.

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CAMPAIGN NEWS

Aide Says Giuliani Campaign Plan Stolen

Rudy Giuliani's private campaign plan, which surfaced in the New York Daily News yesterday, was stolen from carry-on baggage on a private flight, an aide to the former New York Mayor said yesterday. The Daily News reported yesterday that the document came from a source sympathetic to a potential Giuliani rival, and had been found in a hotel. The AP reports today that Sunny Mindel, a spokeswoman for Giuliani, said, "This wasn't left in a hotel. This is clearly a dirty trick. The voters are sick and tired of this kind of thing."

The New York Daily News reports today that Mindel described the chain of events: "During one leg of his campaign travel, all luggage was removed from a private plane and later put back on. However, one staffer's bag was not returned. After repeated requests over the course of a few days, the bag was finally returned with the document inside. Because our staffer had custody of this document at all times except for this one occasion, it is clear that the document was removed from the luggage and photocopied."

McCain Advisor Mocks Giuliani's Security. The New York Times reports that the loss of the document could harm Giuliani not necessarily for its contents but for the way it was lost, because "since 9/11, he has built a business as a private consultant on security issues while creating an image as a political leader capable of combating terrorism." "I'm surprised that something like that would ever leave the custody of a campaign, and that such raw and frank information would be around the countryside," said McCain adviser John Weaver.

Romney To Create '08 Committee Today

The Washington Post reports outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will "let one of the least well-kept secrets of the 2008 campaign out of the bag today" when he formally creates a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission. The "filing of the paperwork is largely formulaic, as Romney has long been expected to run for president and has been putting into place a national organization to prepare for such a bid. The Washington Times adds that Romney "has spent recent months moving steadily to try to occupy the conservative ground in the Republican presidential field." The Times says that with no "clear conservative standard bearer" in the race at this point, "all of the candidates think they can win a sizable chunk of those all-important primary voters."

Obama's Confessions Of Misdeeds Now Drawing More Scrutiny

The Washington Post reports in a front page story that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama confessed to his illicit drug use in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father, A Story of Race and Inheritance," 11 years ago. At the time, "20,000 copies were printed and the book seemed destined for the remainders stacks." But with 800,000 copies of the book now in print and Obama's national profile radically increased, Americans may be taking a new look at the contents of his first book. The revelations "were not an issue during his Senate campaign two years ago. But now his open narrative of early, bad choices, including drug use starting in high school and ending in college, as well as his tortured search for racial identity, are sure to receive new scrutiny." What "remains to be seen is whether the candor he offered in his early memoir will be greeted with a new-style acceptance by voters." Through his book, Obama "has become the first potential presidential contender to admit trying cocaine."

Raleigh Mayor Won't Challenge Dole

The AP reports that Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker (D) ended speculation Tuesday that he would challenge North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) in the 2008 election, and will instead seek a fourth term as mayor. The Raleigh News & Observer reports that Meeker "said he briefly considered challenging" Dole, "but decided over the holidays to go for another two years leading Raleigh. 'In a fast-growing city like Raleigh,' he said, 'there's more for a mayor to do than a junior member of Congress.'"

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POLITICAL HUMOR

The Latest From Late Night Comedians

Jay Leno: "Kind of a sad day. Today was the funeral of President Gerald Ford, passed away at the age of 93. A very nice man. I was fortunate enough to meet him. Very nice man. As you know, Ford was the only person to become president without winning an election -- besides President Bush."

David Letterman: "So they executed Saddam Hussein. So I guess that means that whole Iraqi thing is over. We can all go home now."

Conan O'Brien: "Well, a lot of people talking about this. A cellphone video has surfaced of Saddam Hussein's hanging, and officials are trying to figure out who shot the video. Yeah. People who were at the hanging say it was probably the guy who kept yelling, 'Hey, keep it down! I'm on the phone here!'"

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