Tweet
Bush Faces Sharp Challenges in Second Term
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will be confronted by strong domestic and foreign policy challenges as he begins a second term this week that will go a long way toward determining his place in the pantheon of American presidents.
His flag-waving inauguration on Thursday will begin the countdown for an intense period of activity as he attempts to stare down critics and gain congressional approval for changing Social Security (news - web sites), the tax code and the legal system before his chances for action narrow with the mid-term elections in 2006.
"These are big goals," he told USA Today. "But I'm the kind of person that believes in trying to solve big problems before they become acute."
Fierce partisan politics could complicate Bush's plans for domestic policy changes.
And foreign crises have a way of disrupting the best laid plans of a president.
The insurgency in Iraq (news - web sites) threatens to make it more difficult to get an elected government in place in Iraq that will allow the ultimate departure of U.S. troops, starting this year. He is trying to launch a new Middle East peace initiative, while keeping North Korea (news - web sites) and Iran from becoming nuclear powers.
"I think right now he could turn out to be a hero or a goat. It could go either way," said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan. "I think one thing you can say right now is he's one of the most ambitious and risk-taking presidents in history."
Second terms often give presidents the chance to burnish their legacy, and perhaps with that in mind, Bush is planning an inaugural address with the main theme of spreading freedom worldwide.
"I firmly believe the more freedom spreads, the more peace will spread," Bush said on Friday in Jacksonville, Florida.
Analysts say Bush's ability to make Iraq a success and get America's fiscal house in order will determine how his presidency is judged.
Bush starts his second term with considerably less popular support than other recent incumbent presidents after their re-election -- a 50 percent approval rating that is well below the support enjoyed by Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and Bill Clinton (news - web sites), according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
He also faces a Democratic minority that is bruised from its defeat in the November elections and appears to be spoiling for a fight over his ambitious plans. The Democrats hope to make big gains in the 2006 mid-term elections, when the party in control of the White House traditionally loses seats.
DEMOCRATS NOT INTERESTED
"If the White House idea of bipartisanship is that we have to buy whatever partisan ideas they send us, we are not interested," Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) told the National Press Club last week.
New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), new chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, fired a warning shot in a letter to supporters, saying, "The most important role we as Senate Democrats have right now is to put the brakes on the worst impulses of the Bush administration."
The partisan divide is such that the nonpartisan group called the National Committee to Unite a Divided America called last week for bridging political divisions and forging national unity to cope with "severe challenges that threaten our security and long-term prosperity."
"The difficulty of this task is magnified by our country's political divisions, for today we are a polarized nation, a house divided that is ill-prepared for the formidable challenges ahead," said the group, led by former U.S. ambassador to NATO (news - web sites) David Abshire and former U.S. arms control negotiator Max Kampelman.
Analysts see Bush as offering a far more vigorous agenda than in his first term, which ended up being dominated by his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war. They wonder if he will fit the traditional mold of a typical second-term president.
"He is really creating a truly robust second-term agenda. In some ways it is more interesting, certainly more controversial than the first-term agenda," said presidential scholar Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution.
But for all Bush's talk about bipartisanship, Hess wonders whether Bush will be willing to make the compromises likely needed to pick up enough votes to advance his policies.
"Even after the election, when he has talked about bipartisanship, he talks about those folks coming aboard for his programs. He never talks about agreements and compromises and finding common ground," Hess said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will be confronted by strong domestic and foreign policy challenges as he begins a second term this week that will go a long way toward determining his place in the pantheon of American presidents.
His flag-waving inauguration on Thursday will begin the countdown for an intense period of activity as he attempts to stare down critics and gain congressional approval for changing Social Security (news - web sites), the tax code and the legal system before his chances for action narrow with the mid-term elections in 2006.
"These are big goals," he told USA Today. "But I'm the kind of person that believes in trying to solve big problems before they become acute."
Fierce partisan politics could complicate Bush's plans for domestic policy changes.
And foreign crises have a way of disrupting the best laid plans of a president.
The insurgency in Iraq (news - web sites) threatens to make it more difficult to get an elected government in place in Iraq that will allow the ultimate departure of U.S. troops, starting this year. He is trying to launch a new Middle East peace initiative, while keeping North Korea (news - web sites) and Iran from becoming nuclear powers.
"I think right now he could turn out to be a hero or a goat. It could go either way," said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan. "I think one thing you can say right now is he's one of the most ambitious and risk-taking presidents in history."
Second terms often give presidents the chance to burnish their legacy, and perhaps with that in mind, Bush is planning an inaugural address with the main theme of spreading freedom worldwide.
"I firmly believe the more freedom spreads, the more peace will spread," Bush said on Friday in Jacksonville, Florida.
Analysts say Bush's ability to make Iraq a success and get America's fiscal house in order will determine how his presidency is judged.
Bush starts his second term with considerably less popular support than other recent incumbent presidents after their re-election -- a 50 percent approval rating that is well below the support enjoyed by Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and Bill Clinton (news - web sites), according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
He also faces a Democratic minority that is bruised from its defeat in the November elections and appears to be spoiling for a fight over his ambitious plans. The Democrats hope to make big gains in the 2006 mid-term elections, when the party in control of the White House traditionally loses seats.
DEMOCRATS NOT INTERESTED
"If the White House idea of bipartisanship is that we have to buy whatever partisan ideas they send us, we are not interested," Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) told the National Press Club last week.
New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), new chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, fired a warning shot in a letter to supporters, saying, "The most important role we as Senate Democrats have right now is to put the brakes on the worst impulses of the Bush administration."
The partisan divide is such that the nonpartisan group called the National Committee to Unite a Divided America called last week for bridging political divisions and forging national unity to cope with "severe challenges that threaten our security and long-term prosperity."
"The difficulty of this task is magnified by our country's political divisions, for today we are a polarized nation, a house divided that is ill-prepared for the formidable challenges ahead," said the group, led by former U.S. ambassador to NATO (news - web sites) David Abshire and former U.S. arms control negotiator Max Kampelman.
Analysts see Bush as offering a far more vigorous agenda than in his first term, which ended up being dominated by his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war. They wonder if he will fit the traditional mold of a typical second-term president.
"He is really creating a truly robust second-term agenda. In some ways it is more interesting, certainly more controversial than the first-term agenda," said presidential scholar Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution.
But for all Bush's talk about bipartisanship, Hess wonders whether Bush will be willing to make the compromises likely needed to pick up enough votes to advance his policies.
"Even after the election, when he has talked about bipartisanship, he talks about those folks coming aboard for his programs. He never talks about agreements and compromises and finding common ground," Hess said.