February 11, 2009 9:26 PM
One Hundred Days Gone
CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reflects on the first hundred days of the Bush administration.
It always surprises people when I tell them I'm struck more by the similarities than the differences between a new president and his predecessors.
Sure they have ideological and policy differences. George W. Bush views the role of government in way far removed from that of Bill Clinton, just as Clinton looked at things differently than the first President Bush.
But they're politicians all, and that's the common thread transcending their differences.
So in many discernable ways, the Bush White House is not that different from those that came before.
Most similar are the people who serve the presidents. They're always smart, loyal and exceedingly protective of the man in the Oval Office. And they all seem to view the media with suspicion, if not disdain. They're ambitious and well educated – and did I mention that they don't much like reporters?
(On that point, I can't really blame them. As a group, the White House press corps is not a likable bunch. I'm one of them and I don't like us. We're ornery, suspicious and we ask impertinent questions. We serve an important role as watchdog, but we often bite the hand that feeds us. We're not at the White House to be anyone's friend. Especially not the president. We're there to tell the world what he's up to. And when our reports reflect badly on him, it's understandable that his aides refer to us collectively as "the beast.")
In the Bush White House, as in the others I've covered, the president and his senior staff spend long hours in strategy sessions on how to manipulate the media to get the news coverage that serves their political goals and interests.
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is part of that effort. And he shares many traits with those who have had his job in previous administrations. He's smart, articulate, affable and you almost never get him to tell you something he knows but doesn't want to discuss for fear it might cast an unfavorable light on his boss.
Fleischer's staff in the press office could be clones of their predecessors in those jobs under past presidents. They're mostly young, well groomed, conscientious and anxious to please. They all see themselves as one promotion away from taking over as White House chief of staff.
The man who has that job now bears striking similarities to most of his predecessors. Andrew Card is authoritative, decisive and savvy about the ways of Washington.
He has a very firm idea about the way things should work in the White House. For example, this chief of staff doesn't want the president referred to as POTUS, the long-used acronym for Presiden of the United States. Staffers have been told not to use it.
Card also established dress codes for staffers in the West Wing. It's not quite as casual as during the prior eight years.
And the similarities with predecessors extend to the president as well. Sure, George W. Bush has his own style. But like those who came before, including his immediate predecessor, he's a politician, and his behavior reflects those skills and instincts.
President Bush is very much a people person. Like Bill Clinton, he rarely passes up a hand extended for a shake.
Mr. Bush acknowledges his own limitations as an orator. He even jokes about his frequent verbal gaffes such as the use of words that don't exist, an example being "misunderestimate."
But he often speaks with passion, if not syntax, about his policy priorities. And more often than not he speaks from notes, not a written text. He only rarely uses a teleprompter.
Like his predecessors, Mr. Bush has found himself on the defensive during these first hundred days.
He recognizes he must still persuade most Americans that his tax-cut plan is not deliberately intended to benefit the rich. He repeatedly argues that everyone in America who pays taxes deserves a tax cut.
But even some top Democrats find it hard not to like the 43rd president.
He's courteous, hospitable and his words reflect unusual humility for one whose job makes him the most powerful man in the world.
He has said one of his top goals is to change the tone of discourse in Washington. And he thinks he's succeeding.
"There is a culture of respect that's beginning to emerge in Washington," he said Wednesday in Arkansas. "I'm beginning to notice that the rhetoric is toning down just a little bit."
In pursuit of that goal, the president on Monday will mark his first 100 days in office by inviting all 535 members of Congress to lunch at the White House.
In another stab at humility, a spokesman says Mr. Bush wants Congress to know he regards this period as "our" first hundred days and not "his" first hundred days.
Some Democratic members have said they don't plan to attend the lunch. But the Bush White House refuses to view it as a snub.
"The president understands if they all can't make it," said his spokesman.
BY MARK KNOLLER
©MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc., All Rights Reserved
It always surprises people when I tell them I'm struck more by the similarities than the differences between a new president and his predecessors.
Sure they have ideological and policy differences. George W. Bush views the role of government in way far removed from that of Bill Clinton, just as Clinton looked at things differently than the first President Bush.
But they're politicians all, and that's the common thread transcending their differences.
So in many discernable ways, the Bush White House is not that different from those that came before.
Most similar are the people who serve the presidents. They're always smart, loyal and exceedingly protective of the man in the Oval Office. And they all seem to view the media with suspicion, if not disdain. They're ambitious and well educated – and did I mention that they don't much like reporters?
(On that point, I can't really blame them. As a group, the White House press corps is not a likable bunch. I'm one of them and I don't like us. We're ornery, suspicious and we ask impertinent questions. We serve an important role as watchdog, but we often bite the hand that feeds us. We're not at the White House to be anyone's friend. Especially not the president. We're there to tell the world what he's up to. And when our reports reflect badly on him, it's understandable that his aides refer to us collectively as "the beast.")
In the Bush White House, as in the others I've covered, the president and his senior staff spend long hours in strategy sessions on how to manipulate the media to get the news coverage that serves their political goals and interests.
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is part of that effort. And he shares many traits with those who have had his job in previous administrations. He's smart, articulate, affable and you almost never get him to tell you something he knows but doesn't want to discuss for fear it might cast an unfavorable light on his boss.
 |
| CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller |
The man who has that job now bears striking similarities to most of his predecessors. Andrew Card is authoritative, decisive and savvy about the ways of Washington.
He has a very firm idea about the way things should work in the White House. For example, this chief of staff doesn't want the president referred to as POTUS, the long-used acronym for Presiden of the United States. Staffers have been told not to use it.
Card also established dress codes for staffers in the West Wing. It's not quite as casual as during the prior eight years.
And the similarities with predecessors extend to the president as well. Sure, George W. Bush has his own style. But like those who came before, including his immediate predecessor, he's a politician, and his behavior reflects those skills and instincts.
President Bush is very much a people person. Like Bill Clinton, he rarely passes up a hand extended for a shake.
Mr. Bush acknowledges his own limitations as an orator. He even jokes about his frequent verbal gaffes such as the use of words that don't exist, an example being "misunderestimate."
But he often speaks with passion, if not syntax, about his policy priorities. And more often than not he speaks from notes, not a written text. He only rarely uses a teleprompter.
Like his predecessors, Mr. Bush has found himself on the defensive during these first hundred days.
He recognizes he must still persuade most Americans that his tax-cut plan is not deliberately intended to benefit the rich. He repeatedly argues that everyone in America who pays taxes deserves a tax cut.
But even some top Democrats find it hard not to like the 43rd president.
He's courteous, hospitable and his words reflect unusual humility for one whose job makes him the most powerful man in the world.
He has said one of his top goals is to change the tone of discourse in Washington. And he thinks he's succeeding.
"There is a culture of respect that's beginning to emerge in Washington," he said Wednesday in Arkansas. "I'm beginning to notice that the rhetoric is toning down just a little bit."
In pursuit of that goal, the president on Monday will mark his first 100 days in office by inviting all 535 members of Congress to lunch at the White House.
In another stab at humility, a spokesman says Mr. Bush wants Congress to know he regards this period as "our" first hundred days and not "his" first hundred days.
Some Democratic members have said they don't plan to attend the lunch. But the Bush White House refuses to view it as a snub.
"The president understands if they all can't make it," said his spokesman.
BY MARK KNOLLER
©MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc., All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
