George Bush was in sparkling form yesterday at his first press conference since being returned for a second term, reports Conor O'Clery.
Assertive, impassioned and sometimes jokey, a pumped-up President Bush gave his first post-election press conference yesterday, telling reporters he would reshuffle his cabinet soon, but giving no indication of any change in his foreign or domestic policies.
"I earned capital in the campaign and now I intend to spend it," the President told reporters in the Old Executive Office Building in Washington.
"I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I would spend it on."
All the domestic news was good yesterday for Mr Bush, the first presidential candidate since 1988 to win an outright majority of the popular vote. The stock market roared ahead to its biggest one-day gain of the year, unemployment figures were better than expected, and from the bitterly divided Congress he got an offer of co-operation from the Democrats.
Sen Harry Reid of Nevada, who is expected to succeed the defeated Mr Tom Daschle as Senate minority leader, said after Mr Bush called him, "Yesterday I was working against him, today I'm working with him."
Thoroughly enjoying himself, Mr Bush joked with a reporter about doubts over whether he would co-operate with Democrats, saying, "there's probably some scepticism in your beady eyes there".
He laughingly cut off White House correspondents who tried to pose follow-up questions, quipping he could do so "now that I've got the will of the people at my back", and told members of the press corps who raised their hands to show him they were staying on to cover him, "Gosh, we're going to have a lot of fun."
Mr Bush, who has given less press conferences than any other president in memory, also talked lyrically about getting the second term denied to his father. The elder Mr Bush was not with him on Wednesday when Sen John Kerry conceded, he said, "so I never got to see him face to face to watch his pride in his tired eyes as his son got a second term".
The President reflected that he was more seasoned to Washington now as "I've cut my political eye-teeth", and he has clearly come back to the White House reinvigorated: on his way to the press conference he reportedly pulled aside his chief speech writer and said "We need to talk: I have some ideas for the inaugural address."
But no new ideas were on display yesterday apart from changing his cabinet and White House staff. He said he planned to spend the weekend at Camp David and figure out who would stay and who would go. He didn't know who would go but he had warned his cabinet that morning of a period of speculation about their futures.
"It's a great Washington sport ... handicapping my way of thinking," he said, adding that he understood it was exhausting work being in government and that people burned out.
As if responding to frequent criticism that he cannot abide dissent, Mr Bush said he did not want to appoint people who would come into the Oval Office and be overwhelmed by the atmosphere and say, "Man, you're looking pretty!" He wanted people who would walk in and say, "You're not lookin' so good, Mr President."
One of the first members of the administration to go could be Attorney General John Ashcroft. Senior aides said Mr Ashcroft (62), possibly the most religious conservative in the cabinet, is exhausted from leading the Justice Department, and stress was a factor this year that resulted in removal of his gall bladder.
When asked if he would use his victory and the expanded Republican majorities in the House and Senate to push his agenda aggressively, Mr Bush said he would be restrained by accountability, but "I feel it is necessary to move on the agenda I told the American people I would move".
It was his style, he said, to spend his political capital and he would spend it on reforming social security, fighting and winning the war on terror, and working with nations to eliminate poverty and disease and combat HIV.
Asked if he believed America had an image problem in the world, Mr Bush made clear that his concerns extended to improving the image but not on changing the policies from which it stemmed.
He had "taken some very hard decisions" to protect the United States and to "spread peace and freedom", and he understood "that in certain capitals and in certain countries those decisions were not popular".
He had laid out a doctrine that said "if you harbour a terrorist you are as guilty as the terrorist", and some people disagreed, but "I believe that when the American president speaks he'd better mean what he says in order to keep the world peaceful. And I believe we have a solemn duty, whether people agree with it or not, to protect the American people."
Referring to Iraq, he said, "I made the decision I made in order to protect our country first and foremost. I will continue to do that as the President but I will reach out to others and explain why I make the decisions I made." He sidestepped questions about troop levels in Iraq, saying he had no requests to send more from commanders on the ground. He pledged to push forward with his plan to change social security by permitting workers to invest a portion of their own payroll taxes in individual retirement accounts, which Democrats say would undermine a system designed to provide pensions to retirees.
Mr Bush also sidestepped questions about appointments to the Supreme Court which have to be approved by the Senate where the Democratic minority has enough seats to block legislation by filibuster.
Ms Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Democratic US vice-presidential candidate, Mr John Edwards, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her spokesman, Mr David Ginsberg, said Ms Edwards, who had been travelling non-stop around the country for the past few months campaigning for the Democratic presidential ticket, found a lump in her breast last week. She was diagnosed on Wednesday, the same day her husband and presidential nominee Mr Kerry conceded the race. - (Reuters)