White House spokesman Orr insists that the Bush budget does not slight vital health and education programs, pointing to several which would enjoy spending increases. "I think it's important to take a look at what the president's budget funds," he says. "It triples existing funds for reading programs. It increases funding for Head Start. It invests more than a billion dollars -- up 12 percent from 2001 funding -- in research for children's diseases. It includes a $94 million increase in the WIC [children's nutrition] program, and adds to the Centers for Disease Control budget $22 million more for childhood immunization. It increases child care development block grants by $200 million -- a 10 percent increase from the 2001 budget."

But as the Bush White House certainly understands, images are important -- and the images of Bush and his wife staging photo ops at children's centers that shortly thereafter fell under the shadow of his ax are a bit unnerving.

On April 3, standing in the Northeast Neighborhood Library in Washington, Laura Bush, a former middle school librarian, kicked off "The Campaign for America's Libraries." The first lady's visit, during which she called libraries "community treasure chests," came one week before her husband announced a $39 million cutback in federal spending on libraries.

Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the Washington office of the American Library Association, decries the Bush budget's failure to fund what Sheketoff calls the "excellent programs that are serving their communities."

"I do not blame Mrs. Bush," Sheketoff says, when asked about the irony of the first lady's April 3 appearance. "She's a great advocate for libraries." Her husband may be another matter. "I'm disappointed in the budget," Sheketoff says.

The same day that Laura Bush was heralding the importance of a program her hubby was about to cut, the president was engaged in the same type of activity. (It's so nice when couples have similar interests!)

Just 108 miles up I-95, President Bush was standing in the H. Fletcher Brown Boys and Girls Club of Wilmington, Del., his sixth visit to a Boys and Girls Club since he began campaigning for president.

"All of the federal money, as far as I'm concerned, for after-school programs ought to be opened up to every program in the state of Delaware," Bush said. "I'm here to say thanks for what you do."

He told the crowd that the proceeds from his campaign autobiography, "A Charge to Keep," "are going to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs and Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Because I believe so profoundly, I believe so strongly in mentoring. And I believe so strongly in helping children understand somebody loves them ... I want to congratulate the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware for having such a profound impact. One in seven children in this state are members of the Boys and Girls Clubs, for which I know you all are most proud."

Ahem. Well. The president's proposed budget would eliminate funding for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America -- funding that had totaled $170 million in the past four years, and $60 million in the current 2001 budget.

Executives from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America did not return repeated calls for comment. But Orr insists that the president's heart is still with the kids' clubs: "There can be no doubt of the president's support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. All of the proceeds from the president's book 'A Charge to Keep' go to the Boys and Girls Club of America, because he believes so profoundly and so strongly in mentoring." (Actually, according to the president's tax returns, released to the public Friday, the proceeds are donated evenly among the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Girls Inc.)

But the proceeds from the president's as-told-to book, which did not exactly eclipse "Harry Potter," will not make up for the $60 million that will be whited out of Bush's federal budget.

Orr explains that Bush eliminated the Boys and Girls Clubs' funding and slashed the public libraries' spending as part of a general effort to eliminate the costly web of individual pet projects favored by different members of Congress, projects that are slipped into appropriations bills without going through the normal review process. Some call it "pork," others call it "earmarks."

"As a general rule, the administration seeks to avoid earmarked funds which are given non-competitively," Orr says. "The president has tried to eliminate congressional earmarks inserted by individual lawmakers."

But isn't that the same exact thing Bush slammed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for trying to do back during the New York primary, when Bush accused McCain of being insensitive to women's needs by opposing earmarked funds going to specific women's breast cancer programs?

"I wasn't back on the campaign," Orr says. (The answer, by the way, is yes.)

The DNC's McAuliffe says that the president's budget is doing his work for him. Recently returned from a trip to Michigan and Wisconsin, McAuliffe says that Bush's proposed cuts "are not only enraging the base of the Democratic Party, but also independent suburban voters. In Wisconsin they're going to lose a thousand teachers from the Clinton-Gore teacher's program. And 1,300 police officers, since the COPS program's being cut, too! Same thing in Michigan -- they're going to lose 3,500 cops there!"

"I think he thinks we're fools," McAuliffe says.

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