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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Apr 30, 2001 | The subject: Joseph Curl, correspondent for the Washington Times.
The evidence:
Headline: Charming Bush lauded after 100 days; President focuses on taxes, education
Page: 1A
Date: April 30, 2001
By Joseph Curl, The Washington Times
One hundred days ago, a Texan came to Washington bent on changing the toxic tone in the nation's capital and vowing to curb federal spending, rewrite the country's tax code and overhaul the education system.
With 1,360 days left in his term, President Bush is well on his way to achieving his goals. Congress is rapidly moving toward passage of at least a $1.3 trillion tax cut, as well as the core principles of the new president's education package; his federal budget that holds spending increases to 4 percent was passed by the House and is now in a conference committee; and the partisan flames that raged on Capitol Hill for much of the last eight years are but smoldering embers.
"We're making progress toward changing the tone in Washington," Mr. Bush said Saturday. "There's less name-calling and finger-pointing. We're sharing credit. We are learning we can make our points without making enemies."
In the process, the presidential candidate who pundits said lacked the skills and knowledge necessary to run the country has deftly handled an international crisis, increased his approval rating to 63 percent -- eight points higher than former President Bill Clinton enjoyed after his first 100 days -- and returned dignity to a White House stained by his predecessor.
"It turns out that he knows an awful lot about being president," said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar with the Brookings Institution. "Maybe it's genetic."
Mr. Bush's easy charm -- the back-slapping, the winks, the nicknames -- has so far taken the bat out of Democrats' hands. None wants to launch the first strike, preferring to wait quietly until Mr. Bush showed his true partisan colors.
They're still waiting.
Jokes that stick At the White House Correspondents Association's annual black-tie gala, where big media and big politics party and take playful potshots at each other, Bush had them rolling in the aisles over a slide show. "It's getting late," he said, "and fortunately there won't be time tonight for my slide shows of the trip to Honduras." Huh? That was the other President Bush, at his first White House Correspondents Association dinner on April 30, 1989. And the slide show joke -- reportedly that night's best -- referred to lingering questions about the Iran-Contra affair and a trip that Bush the elder took to Honduras as Ronald Reagan's vice president.
It's hard to tell what parts of George W. Bush's routine at his first correspondents dinner Saturday night in Washington will seem hopelessly dated and head-scratchingly obscure when the next president takes the podium, and which ones will seem prophetic. The newest Bush in the White House did put on an actual slide show, complete with naked toddler photos of his brother Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, just to prove there were no hard feelings about the whole recount debacle. In addition to the family pictures, Bush's dinner routine included an elaborate sendup of "Survivor," featuring Bob Dole ambling around his office in an outback-style headdress, holding a torch. The last shot was of liberal demon/conservative goddess Katherine Harris, Florida's secretary of state, opening a tie-breaking "Bore" ballot, and calling the election for Bush. While the skit was uproariously funny to the audience, it may have all the historic staying power of the performance of comedian Jim Morris -- who? -- the man responsible for doing a spot-on Bush impersonation in 1989. Or will it be as memorable as the cutting-edge monologue of stand-up artist Elayne Boosler, who headlined Bill Clinton's first WHCA dinner? Who will know the name of Darrell Hammond -- the "Saturday Night Live" Clinton/Gore impersonator who performed on Saturday for Bush?
But there are some lines spouted at previous WHCA dinners that presidents haven't been able to walk away from so easily. For example: when the first President Bush laughed at himself after reporters said that his schedule was so much more rigorous than Reagan's. "That's the first time that I have ever been accused of keeping anybody awake," he said. And it was probably the last. Or when Clinton told the press corps at the end of a rocky 100 days, "You tell them when I stumble. But always tell them I'm not standing still." And they never did. What words will Bush the younger have to swallow in the coming years? Perhaps it will be the joke he told after showing the audience his first-grade report card, complete with straight A's. "So my advice is," said Bush, "don't peak too early." With high approval ratings and a few notable stumbles, the president might take this advice to heart.
-- A.M.
