Bush lays out agenda - Homeland security agency, judicial picks, tax cuts top to-do list

WASHINGTON - Sitting on top of the political world, President Bush played down his role in Republican election successes Thursday, saying voters want both parties to cooperate on protecting the nation and growing the economy.

"The way to look at this election is to say that people want something done," Mr. Bush said during a 45-minute news conference. "They see the risks are high; the risk of being able to find a job, or the risk of keeping the homeland secure."

While disdaining talk of his role in this election, a jocular Mr. Bush discussed his own political future, saying that if he seeks re-election in 2004, he would again ask Vice President Dick Cheney to be his running mate.

Making his first public appearance since Republicans recaptured a Senate majority, Mr. Bush outlined an ambitious conservative agenda that includes creation of a Department of Homeland Security, permanent tax cuts, swifter approval of judges, an energy bill and a prescription drug plan for senior citizens.

The president also used his first formal news conference since July to echo his demand that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein disarm or face invasion, and he expressed confidence that the United Nations would back that policy.

Democrats, having lost the Senate majority and even more seats in the House, pledged to work with the president but also promised to resist plans they believe would hurt average Americans.

"We have to go to the American people and say, 'We want to fight the war on terrorism, too,' " said Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, who is seeking to become his party's leader in the House. "But we have sharp differences with this administration on economic issues. We want a real prescription drug plan. We want to put people to work. We want tax fairness."

Debate may be joined quickly, as a lame-duck session is scheduled to open next week. Mr. Bush said he wants the outgoing Congress to concentrate on finishing spending bills for the fiscal year already started, enacting terrorism insurance reform. His top priority, though, is creating a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security by rearranging two dozen existing federal agencies.

"We have a responsibility to protect the American people against threats from any source," Mr. Bush said.

When the new Congress comes to town in January, Republicans will own at least 51 of the 100 Senate seats, pending the result of a Dec. 7 runoff in Louisiana. The GOP will also enjoy a 21-vote margin in the House.

Many Republicans gave credit to the president, saying his record-breaking fund-raising and intense campaigning made the difference in close races in places like Missouri, Georgia, New Hampshire and Minnesota.

Mr. Bush, though, perhaps mindful that political triumph can be fleeting, stressed what he saw as voters' demands to end partisan bickering. He also said that individual candidates should be given credit for individual races.

"Candidates win elections because they're good candidates," he said, "not because they may happen to have the president as a friend - or a foe, for that matter."

Mr. Bush said he also expects the new Republican Senate to move along some of his stalled judicial nominees, including Texas Supreme Justice Priscilla Owen. The Senate Judiciary Committee, when controlled by Democrats, blocked Justice Owen's nomination to a federal appeals court.

As part of his stated effort to reduce partisanship in Washington, the president repeated his call for new guidelines to streamline consideration of judicial nominations, an issue that will come to the fore when there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

"Step one on the nomination process ... is to convince members of the Senate we're serious about a process that will get rid of the old bitterness of the judicial process," Mr. Bush told reporters, adding: "This is probably not to your liking, by the way. You love those court fights. I'm confident that it makes great cover and great stories."

Democrats said they fear many of Mr. Bush's judges would roll back civil rights. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that while he appreciated Mr. Bush's "very positive tone," comity could crack if he pushes judges whose views are out of the mainstream.

"If there's going to be a determination to find right-wing ideologues, that will cause a battle on the Senate floor," Mr. Kennedy said on CNN.

Democrats have questioned the sincerity of Mr. Bush's repeated call for "changing the tone" in the capital, saying his aides often use the phrase to club Democrats who disagree with the administration.

Some noted that Mr. Bush outlined his plan, which would set deadlines for nominees to be named and to receive committee hearings and a Senate floor vote, without notifying congressional Democrats. Others said that in the election, Democrats who wanted more workers' rights in the Homeland Security Department had their patriotism questioned.

"Mostly he's working against Democrats," said one of the party's congressional aides. "There's very little consulting. ... If anything, the tone has changed for the worse."

Other Democrats said Mr. Bush might lose mainstream voters if he plays too much to his conservative base. But Mr. Bush, who joked at one point that "I appreciate all the advice I'm getting," said he doesn't "take cues from anybody."

"I just tell people what I think about how to solve the problems we face," Mr. Bush said. "And I ran on a political philosophy. I'm not changing my political philosophy. I am who I am ... I'm the same guy after the election I was prior to the election."

Mr. Bush did not commit himself to a re-election bid in two years, but no one expects him to retire voluntarily. The president also disposed of the rumor that Mr. Cheney may not be up for another term because of heart problems.

"He's done an excellent job," Mr. Bush said. "I appreciate his advice, I appreciate his counsel, I appreciate his friendship."

Mr. Bush also renewed his support for a proposal that Democrats condemned on the campaign trail: changing the Social Security system to allow recipients to invest some of their government-funded retirement money in the stock market. While Democrats said the plan threatens the Social Security system, Mr. Bush echoed his argument that it will help save the system from insolvency down the line.

"I still strongly believe that the best way to achieve security in Social Security for younger workers is to give them the option of managing their own money through a personal savings account," Mr. Bush said.

Expressing confidence in his economic team, Mr. Bush said efforts to lower taxes and reduce regulations will help spur economic revival.

He also lauded outgoing Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt, who resigned under fire on election night. Mr. Pitt's critics say he was too easy on corporations, but Mr. Bush praised him for prosecuting companies with fudged accounts and helping the stock market re-open after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

While sticking to the White House's policy of not gloating about Tuesday's results, Mr. Bush couldn't help being pleased with the election outcome, and the relaxed and confident president bantered with the press.

When one journalist sought to ask a follow-up question, Mr. Bush cracked: "If the elections had gone a different way, I might not be so generous."

When another reporter asked if Tuesday's results validated his own 2000 election after a still-disputed Supreme Court case, the president replied: "Thank you for that loaded question."

"I really don't put this in personal terms," he added. "I know people in Washington like to do that, you know, 'George Bush won, George Bush lost.' That's the way they do it here. Zero-sum in Washington. And I know that."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that while he appreciated Mr. Bush's "very positive tone," comity could crack if he pushes judges whose views are out of the mainstream.

Here they go again. Great Editorial made this point today:

the left artificially constrains the limits of acceptable dissent by painting its opponents as radicals who are "outside the mainstream" of acceptable thought. Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) has successfully used this tactic time and time again when rejecting President Bush's judicial appointments.

This attitude has noticeable - and negative - effects on the electoral process as well.

If one's opponents are morally deficient, then their defeat is not a simple matter of politics but an affirmative moral duty. Hence, nearly any tactic, no matter how Machiavellian, is acceptable if it ensures the defeat of the left's opponents.

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