[NYTr] Bush Declares He is Relevant - His VETO power proves it

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Washington Post - Oct 18, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/17/AR2007101701457_pf.html

Bush Declares That He Remains Relevant

President Criticizes Stalled Bills on Hill

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush declared yesterday that he remains "relevant" despite
his political troubles, and he derided Democrats for running a
do-nothing Congress that has failed to address critical domestic,
economic and security issues in the nine months since they took control
of Capitol Hill.

Trying to turn the tables on his adversaries, Bush lashed out at
lawmakers for stalling housing and education initiatives, trade
agreements, and judicial nominations, and for not having passed any of
12 annual spending bills more than two weeks into the new fiscal year.
"Congress has little to show for all the time that has gone by," he
said during a White House news conference.

Bush's assault on Democratic leaders during the 47-minute session
reflected a broader attempt by the White House to go on the offensive
at a time when polls show that the public has soured on Congress just
as it has on the president. Stuck with the lowest approval ratings of
his presidency with just 15 months left in office, Bush presented
himself as still in command of the Washington agenda and rejected the
suggestion that he has grown "increasingly irrelevant," as a reporter
put it in a question.

"Quite the contrary," he said. "I've never felt more engaged and more
capable of helping people recognize . . . that there's a lot of
unfinished business." Defending his rejection of a popular children's
health program expansion, Bush said his veto power gives him leverage.
"That's one way to ensure that I am relevant," he said. "That's one way
to ensure that I am in the process. And I intend to use the veto."

His reprimand of Congress drew a scathing response from Democrats. "I
appreciate that the man who has managed Iraq so well is going to give
us a lecture about management," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman
Rahm Emanuel (Ill.). "The man who gave us Katrina is going to tell us
how to manage?"

Bush's performance in some ways echoed one by Emanuel's former boss,
President Bill Clinton, who, several months after the opposition
Republicans took over Congress in 1995, declared that "the Constitution
gives me relevance." Clinton, too, played off an increasingly unpopular
Congress and used his veto power to exert influence, most notably by
twice rejecting an overhaul of the welfare system until lawmakers
passed a version more to his liking.

What seems unclear is whether Bush wants compromise or confrontation.
Aides have talked enthusiastically about vetoing spending bills to
reestablish his credentials as a fiscal conservative with a party base
alienated by the growth in government on his watch. Senior Senate
Republicans have complained that the White House showed no genuine
interest in finding accord on the children's health-care bill that he
vetoed.

But Bush said yesterday that he is "confident we can work out our
differences" on the State Children's Health Insurance Program and that
he wants to find "common ground" on other legislation. The House
appears unlikely to overturn Bush's veto of the children's health bill
today, after which the president said his staff can broker a deal with
lawmakers.

Bush had proposed a 20 percent increase in funding for the program,
which budget analysts said would be inadequate to cover even the
children currently insured. The vetoed bill would have pumped an extra
$35 billion into the program over five years, more than doubling the
funding, to increase the number of people covered from 6.6 million to
10 million. Bush calls that a step toward socialized medicine because
it would cover many families that now have private insurance.

Still, Bush said during the news conference that he wants to find a way
to extend the program to an additional 500,000 children who are
currently eligible but are not receiving coverage. "If putting poor
children first requires more than the 20 percent increase in funding I
proposed," he said, "we'll work with Congress to find the money we
need."

While Bush and the Democrats fight it out in public, the Republican
rank and file have grown increasingly demoralized. Eighteen Republicans
in the Senate and 45 in the House abandoned the White House on the
children's health bill, and lawmakers expect even more to vote to
override his promised veto of a water projects bill as soon as next
week.

As Republicans lament life in the minority, many are giving up. Nearly
a dozen Republicans in the House and five in the Senate have announced
their intention to retire next year. Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), chairman of
the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that the party
should hold many of those seats, but that some will be tough, such as
that of Rep. Deborah Pryce (Ohio). "If Deborah would change her mind,
I'd be the happiest guy in the world," he said.

But White House officials contend that their political fortunes have
begun to improve. While Bush's poll numbers remain stagnant, aides note
that he has successfully fought off congressional efforts to pull U.S.
forces out of Iraq and has pushed Congress into passing temporary
legislation authorizing his controversial surveillance program aimed at
terrorists. The deficit has come down and North Korea is moving to
dismantle its nuclear program, they note, and the president has
advanced plans to deal with everything from subprime mortgages to
airline delays.

Bush yesterday went so far as to assert that Washington is coming
together on Iraq, a notion that many Democrats would hardly agree with
even though they have not forced a change in strategy. "We're finding
common ground on Iraq," he said. "I recognize there are people [in]
Congress that say we shouldn't have been there in the first place. But
it sounds to me as if the debate has shifted."

He likewise suggested that the dynamics on the ground in Iraq have
changed, although he was careful not to claim victory against al-Qaeda
in Iraq, as some in the military want to do. "Yeah, we've hurt them bad
in Iraq," he said. "We've hurt them bad elsewhere." But he said
"al-Qaeda is still dangerous." He brushed off criticism from retired
Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, his former top commander in Iraq, who
last week assailed the "catastrophically flawed" war plan and the
"incompetent strategic leadership" of national leaders.

As he ticked off stalled domestic measures, Bush rejected any
suggestion that he bears responsibility for the growing gridlock given
his many veto threats. He placed the blame squarely on Democrats. "I
think it is their fault that bills aren't moving, yeah," he said. "I'm
not part of the legislative branch. All I can do is ask them to move
bills. It's up to the leaders to move the bills. And, you bet, I'm
going to put veto threats out."

Staff writer Jonathan Weisman contributed to this report.