December 06, 2001|By David L. Greene and Karen Hosler | David L. Greene and Karen Hosler,SUN NATIONAL STAFF
WASHINGTON - After weeks of focusing heavily on war and the aftermath of Sept. 11, President Bush has begun to turn his attention elsewhere and is clearing time in his schedule to fight for priorities that have nothing to do with terrorism.
During the past two days, the president had held several meetings with members of the House to lobby for their support in a crucial vote today on whether to give Bush the authority to negotiate future international trade agreements that Congress can only accept or reject.
The vote, expected to be very close, is the first test of whether Bush's soaring wartime popularity can translate into victories on Capitol Hill that are unrelated to the campaign against terrorism. A second test of Bush's influence might also come today in the Senate, where Democrats will try to add $15 billion in extra spending to a defense bill despite the president's strenuous objections.
A president who did not try to leverage popularity from a war or tragedy to achieve successes on other issues would be missing a golden opportunity, scholars and analysts say. Bush's father came under scathing criticism for not taking advantage of his popularity in the immediate aftermath of the Persian Gulf war a decade ago to win approval of an ambitious domestic agenda.
"The president is our best closer," John Feehery, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, said of Bush's efforts to win over wavering members in the final hours before the trade vote. "Now, more than ever."
But there is no guarantee that adulation from the public during a war changes public opinion on other issues or puts pressure on members of Congress, analysts say.
"Just because he has high approval ratings [from the war], you can't expect people will agree with him on everything," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
Such limits were apparent yesterday when Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, said he had not yet decided to vote for the trade bill, though Bush recruited Foley's mother in his highly personal lobbying campaign.
Foley was one of eight Florida Republicans whom Bush invited to join him aboard Air Force One for his trip to Orlando on Tuesday so the president could try to ease their concerns about the trade bill's potential effect on the citrus industry. "Boys, we've got to talk," Bush said, as he entered their cabin with a swagger.
During their give and take, Foley told Bush that his mother, Fran Foley, would be thrilled to talk to the president, and Bush let Foley use the plane's secure phone to make the call.
"He gets on and says, `Hi, Fran. How are you? What do you think about trade?' He says that to my mother! I told him he was shameless," Foley said.
Even so, Foley was holding out last night for a commitment that tariffs on citrus products would be lifted only gradually to ease the shock on his constituent farmers.
"I love him," Foley said of Bush. "I knew him before he became president. But I don't sell out my industries because he's popular. Because he's doing a phenomenal job leading the nation, which I applaud, doesn't mean I should say, `I came here to be a Bush booster.' No, I came here to be representative of [Florida's] 16th Congressional District."
In the dozen weeks since the attacks on New York City and Washington, Bush has held a consistent approval rating of close to 90 percent, and Americans have been overwhelmingly supportive of the military action in Afghanistan.
Until the past 48 hours, Bush had devoted much of his time to the fight against terrorism - monitoring the strikes in Afghanistan, cutting off funds to enemies and trying to protect the homeland from future attacks. He has not tested his influence to see if it would help him enact once key-priority proposals on subjects such as education, energy and faith-based charities, which have been eclipsed by the war on terrorism and its aftermath.
`Extraordinary support'
"He has extraordinary support - almost off the charts - but he has shown a reluctance to use it," said former Rep. Lee Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat. "Most presidents would use this kind of public support, and this gain in prestige and credibility, to push his agenda. If Bush will not, he won't get a whole lot done. Congress just doesn't hand a president too much."
Bush has only paid lip service to the energy plan he tirelessly pitched in the spring and pushed through the House with a surprisingly strong vote in the summer. Senate Democratic leaders, who oppose the Bush approach, have put the debate off until next year. The president's stalled plan to offer federal funding to religious charities has hardly gotten a word from the White House in recent weeks.
House and Senate negotiators, toiling on their own for months to produce a compromise version of the education reform proposal that was once Bush's "top priority," have hopes of striking a deal soon. But they're probably going to need his help to get the job done.
