Amicable Bush Steps Out of Predictable Presidential Character

The predictable action of a president courting Congress is to invite lawmakers to soak in the history and power of the Oval Office and the Cabinet room.

So far, President Bush has played host at the White House to more than 150 members of Congress. But Bush now has taken the art of schmoozing to another level: He is meeting with lawmakers on their own turf.

On Friday, Bush met with Senate Democrats who were meeting behind closed doors at the Library of Congress here. It was the first time in anyone’s memory that a president had attended such a gathering of the opposing party. And Bush apparently charmed many of his erstwhile foes just a day after they had slapped his hand by registering 42 no votes when John Ashcroft was confirmed as Bush’s attorney general.

Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the minority leader, said after the meeting that, like Bush, he and his Democratic colleagues are intent on improving relations--even as inevitable political fights occur. “We’re going to break out of the box we’ve been in and the polarization we’ve experienced,” Daschle said.

After meeting with Senate Democrats, the president helicoptered south to Williamsburg, Va., where he dropped in on a Republican congressional retreat. On Sunday, he is expected to travel to a retreat of House Democrats in Pennsylvania.

These gestures of supercharged presidential outreach have caught some Democrats off guard. And the efforts have elated Republicans, who have craved executive leadership since they took control of Congress six years ago.

By the end of the weekend, if there are any of the 534 members of Congress--there is one vacancy in the House--who have not seen the new president up close, it won’t be for lack of effort on his part.

“I love meeting with the members,” Bush told the gathering of congressional Republicans. “For those of you who have been to our office, thanks for coming. For those of you who have not been to our office yet, you’re coming. Just don’t take any silverware!”

Talking Up the Big Picture

Some Democrats seemed almost disarmed by the president’s personal touch.

“He’s establishing both an atmosphere and a set of personal relations that will pay him dividends,” said Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), an influential centrist. At a previous session with Bush, Graham spent an hour in the Cabinet room talking about the nuts and bolts of tax policy.

In his 30-minute encounter Friday with Senate Democrats, Bush was short on specifics and long on broad talk of working together.

White House aides quoted him as acknowledging that his aim to “rid the system of rancor” might be dismissed by some as naive, but Bush insisted “that’s my intent.”

Ashcroft Saga Is Old News

Senators said that Bush recalled his working relationship with Texas Democrats during his tenure as that state’s governor. He apologized for confusing Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron L. Dorgan, both North Dakota Democrats, earlier in the week, which got a laugh. He then took a few questions.

Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) asked Bush whether he would support current efforts to provide schools with cut-rate Internet access. Bush was said to have answered in the affirmative.

The simple fact of Bush’s visit was impressive to some Senate veterans. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said it was the first time in his 28 years in the chamber that a Republican president had addressed a gathering of Democrats. But Biden warned: “Bipartisanship doesn’t just mean we like each other. We do like each other. But how does that translate? . . . We’ll see.”

There were positive signs. Underscoring that the Ashcroft controversy was yesterday’s news, senators said the battle and harsh rhetoric that surrounded Bush’s decision to name him attorney general never came up.

Bush visited Senate Democrats at the invitation of Daschle. The meeting with House Democrats at a resort near Farmington, Pa., was set up by Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) after the White House signaled that Bush would be available.

Plans call for Bush to take about 20 minutes of questions from the House Democrats on Sunday afternoon.

“He’s the president, and, if he feels it is important to come, we are not going to turn down his request,” Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told The Hill newspaper. “But it can’t be a one-way conversation. He can’t just go in and make a speech and leave. He will have to stay and listen to the members’ concerns.”

The meeting with GOP senators and House members in Williamsburg was another matter altogether. There, Bush received the welcome of a conquering hero. And he returned the affection. He delivered a campaign-style pitch for his agenda--interspersing his remarks with quips and asides that left members laughing and whooping.

The president spent the most time touting his $1.6-trillion, across-the-board tax cut plan, which he intends to send to Congress next week. Bush also reiterated that he is “deadly serious” about changing the tone in Washington.

“I’m committed to setting a positive tone for the country, and I know you’ll join me. You’re not going to agree with everything I say. I probably won’t agree with everything you’ll say. But I’ll listen and I’ll respect your opinion.”