Inside The War Room

(8 of 10)

By cultivating the leadership only, Bush was trying to create a wartime executive committee that could dictate its will to Congress. Where Clinton had, as a governing tool, courted conflict with Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole and even Democrats, Bush thought charming the congressional leadership would yield better results. Like his father, Bush puts politicians into two breeds: on the one hand, "good men" (and women) who can get things done, and on the other hand, obstructionist poseurs. And good men can hail from either party. It's why Bush gives out his highest praise to liberal archenemy Ted Kennedy. "He can get things done," Bush told TIME at the end of an Oval Office meeting with the Massachusetts Senator on the education bill, which passed last week.

But that assessment did not fit Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, and it was not long before the partisan squabbles came creeping back. Daschle told Bush early on that he was in no hurry to approve the President's judicial nominations--a comment that led Senate G.O.P. leader Trent Lott to pull Dick Cheney aside and say, "That's the real Tom Daschle." Republicans blocked the expensive farm bill Daschle and other farm-state Democrats wanted, and Daschle, in turn, blocked the pro-business economic-stimulus package Bush had backed. By December the White House was calling Daschle an "obstructionist."

That's probably the tone of things to come. The further Bush gets from Sept. 11, the more the numbers 2002 and 2004 will matter. Already, under pressure from Speaker Hastert, the President has quietly agreed to postpone any real push to reform Social Security until after next fall's election. Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, denies that Bush has changed anything on Social Security, but Hastert has told allies that he has the President's word. Bush told friends during the campaign last year that he had, at most, 18 months to get something done. Some Republicans believe the war has so far only guaranteed Bush that much time, not extended it.

"QUAGMIRE"

By the first weekend of October, the Bush family had revived its custom of having friends come to Camp David. The President was acting goofy and being a cutup, as he often is around old chums. Saturday he disappeared with Condoleezza Rice and issued the order sending bombers to Afghanistan from bases in Missouri and from Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean. On Sunday morning Attorney General John Ashcroft sat at the piano and played a range of Southern spirituals while Hughes, Rice, the President and the First Lady joined in the singing. The President would soon be back at the White House, announcing the attack to the nation. "What do we do now?" asked Hughes. Replied Rice: "We just wait."