TOM HANSON/AP-CP

TOTAL CONTROL: The Bush team will push its new power

A Man With A Mandate

Time has brought reversals of fortune for George W Bush

By JOHN F. DICKERSON/Washington

Posted Sunday, Dec. 8, 2002; 2.02 p.m. GMT
Though George W. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000, he walked into office with the swagger of a man who had been given a broad mandate. Now he actually has that mandate, since the midterm elections put the House and Senate in Republican hands. So what will the President do? He will swagger some more, most likely go to war with Saddam Hussein, and start running hard for re-election in 2004.

Bush has already surprised those who thought he would never be able to build a coalition around his hard-line Iraq policy. Next year will determine whether the President will be able to bring along into war what has so far been begrudging alliance. Bush's strategy for Iraq is the first test of the new American foreign- policy stance of preemptive preeminence, a doctrine that states the U.S. should remain the only superpower and move quickly against perceived threats. At home, the highly political Bush Administration, which has been plotting the President's re-election strategy from its earliest days, will become even more so.

The White House recognizes that it can no longer blame its predecessors if people are feeling weak in the wallet, so goosing the sputtering U.S. economy with another series of tax breaks is the first priority. Critics anticipate over-reaching now that Bush's party controls Congress, and some of his recent environmental decisions on air pollution and forest management, which seem to favor his corporate backers, support that view. But the Bush team has studied the hubris that landed Clinton in so much trouble.

While the President is certain to push conservative judges to fill growing vacancies in the judiciary and perhaps as many as two Supreme Court chairs, he will also propose policies that appeal to moderates, such as a prescription drug benefit for seniors and educational reforms. He's also anxious to revive his "compassionate conservative" agenda. Will that be enough to assure victory in 2004? It all depends on a swift win in Iraq and, of course, on the economy.

BACK TO TOP

Hu's In Charge? [Nov. 15, 2002] Jiang Zemin followed the script and stepped down as General Secretary of China's Communist Party, but his last-minute power play could spell trouble

A Different Party Line [Nov. 7, 2002] Behind the scenes a fledgling generation of liberal political reformers is quietly gathering power and beginning to push for change.

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