Can President Bush Unite the NATION?

George W. Bush will take the oath of office on January 20, after a hard-fought campaign and a bitter election dispute. Now his real challenges begin.

On January 20, George W. Bush will take the oath of office to become President of the United States, after having won one of the most closely contested and controversial elections in U.S. history.

Bush has won a huge political prize, and his inauguration will be a time to celebrate his victory. As John F. Kennedy said, the President is "the vital center of action in our whole scheme of government."

The President sends soldiers into battle, makes foreign policy, and nominates Justices to the Supreme Court. He can create regulations on everything from business to space exploration to the environment. He will be called upon to make decisions in major crises.

Challenges Ahead

Being the 43rd President of the U.S. will not be easy. The President is likely to face many challenges in the coming year. The economy is slowing down after many strong years. The Middle East remains in crisis.

But the most serious challenge Bush will have to face may be uniting a nation that feels divided about the results of the election. To be successful, he will have to use all of his political skills to bring people together, says Allen Weinstein, head of the Center for Democracy, a nonpartisan organization. "The important task of the President will be reaching out, not to his supporters alone, but more importantly to those who opposed him." Weinstein told JS. "A lot of this will depend on the ability of the President to think in a bipartisan way after the most partisan election in American history."

Building Bipartisanship 

President Bush has already declared his desire to work with both parties. "We're all Americans," he told CBS. "There's a unique opportunity to say to the country and to future generations, we proved the skeptics wrong, that we can work together ... that it's possible to have a spirit of cooperation in Washington, D.C."

Bush has worked with a bipartisan legislature as Governor of Texas. He may try to reach out to Democrats in two ways: One is by appointing Democrats to his Cabinet. Past Presidents, including Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Harry S. Truman, and John F. Kennedy, chose members of the other party to serve in their administrations. Bush may also propose programs that will be popular with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Why is it so important to have Congress on his side? Because, says Weinstein, "the Congress can hobble the President in a variety of ways." To get programs he favors passed, the President needs to work with both parties in Congress. Although Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives by a narrow margin, the Senate is evenly divided--50-50--between Democrats and Republicans. That means it will be hard for Bush to get programs enacted that don't have the support of at least some Senate Democrats.

The Democrats could delay passing Republican backed bills by relying on a filibuster (a tactic in which a lawmaker keeps talking to prevent a bill from being voted upon). Under Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, which is more than the Republicans have. So the future President may have to abandon some of his more controversial plans, such as changing the Social Security program, and concentrate on ones both parties will support. More realistic goals include increasing funding for education and reducing taxes for married couples.

Peri Arnold, a government professor at the University of Notre Dame, says, "Even while Bush will be the first Republican to control both houses of Congress since 1954, he will be constrained. Bush told us he . . . could work with both ... He didn't realize what he was wishing for."

"We Have the Agenda"

Many experts do not think it will be easy for President Bush to keep his promise to be bipartisan. Despite Bush's hope to end "partisan bickering," tensions are expected to be so great between the two parties that the gap may be too wide.

Democrats in the Senate have asked for a greater share of power than they had in the last Congress. "Whether people like it or not, whether they want it or not, we're going to have to learn to get along, come up with bipartisan solutions, and have power sharing in the United States Senate," Senator Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) told CBS.

But conservatives in Congress have signaled their desire to push a strongly right-wing agenda, including massive tax cuts--a move that is unlikely to win over Democrats. Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.), House majority whip, has said, "We'll write conservative bills and ask the Democrats to participate." He adds, "We have the House, we have the Senate, we have the White House, which means we have the agenda."

Senator Phil Gramm (R.-Tex.) agrees. "Someone's got to be in the majority," he said. "Someone's got to set the agenda."

This may not please Democrats, many of whom are already angry. Many of them feel that Al Gore, the popular-vote winner of the election, lost because Bush's team was able to prevent an accurate count of all votes in Florida.

They probably will not cut the new President much slack. House minority leader Richard Gephardt (D.-Mo.) warns that Democrats will not accept "dictation" from Republicans.

Is Partisanship So Bad?

According to Theodore Lowi, a government professor at Cornell University, healthy partisanship is just what the U.S. needs. He says that each party has different ideas about what's best for the country. It's important for the two parties to debate ideas openly, because it teaches all of us about democracy.

He says of bipartisanship, "You're just masking, or submerging, genuine differences between the parties, and that, to me, is corrupting. It means the debate isn't taking place in public."

He adds, "We have a healthy democracy. We can afford to fight in public." There are times, such as wars, he says, when a nation must pull together. But, as he told JS, in peacetime, a full. strong fight over the fate of the nation is fine.

Prospects for a President?

How will President Bush cope with the challenges ahead? Some point to the fact that many Americans rally around the President once he is chosen.

"When someone wins, and someone is inaugurated, he becomes President. . . . People forget the circumstances of his becoming President," political writer William Kristol told The Washington Post.

Democrat Robert Reich, the former U.S. Labor Secretary, agrees. "If the next President does not encounter a foreign or domestic crisis, he will be OK," he told The Los Angeles Times. But, Reich cautioned, "Legitimacy is called into question when the President needs to draw on the bank of public trust."

Some have pointed out that Presidents who have won other close elections have managed to be effective. Among them are John F. Kennedy who, Weinstein says, "was a commanding presence in the White House." Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the Senate majority leader, pointed out that Thomas Jefferson, whom many consider to be one of our best Presidents, came to office in 1801 after a disputed election. "In a strange way, I think people may strive harder to make it work, to get a few good things done," Lott says. "Why not? The country is at stake."

Bush himself hopes to build cooperation. "It's such a wonderful opportunity," he says, "to prove people wrong, to erase cynicism, and to set this country straight as we head into the 21st century."

Moving Day at the White House

While George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President, the White House staff will be busy preparing for the arrival of the new First Family. "There is no more complex or demanding time," says Gary Walters, chief usher of the White House.

The move begins when the new and old First Families leave for the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol, just before noon on January 20. In a span of four hours, workers will move everything--from furniture to toothbrushes to cereal boxes--both in and out of the White House.

It's important, says Walters, that "the departing family be as much at home on inaugural morning as is humanly possible." That's difficult, Walters adds, because by the time the new First Family arrives, the White House must be "transformed into their home."

How do you make a house a home? By late afternoon, the new First Family will find their clothes hanging in newly emptied closets, and their favorite foods stocked in the pantry. The staff adopts the new family's routine, says Walters, "and not the other way around."

But the hardest part of the move for the White House staff is probably saying goodbye to the old First Family. "The emotional strain cannot be exaggerated," says Walters. "This staff has literally lived with the outgoing family for years."

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

In a typical year, more than 5,000 bills are introduced in Congress. But only about 150 of them become law.

The diagram below shows a bill going through the House and Senate at the same time. That can happen. But often, a bill is passed by one house of Congress, then goes to the other for action.

After a bill passes both houses, it goes to the President, who either can approve or veto (reject) it. If the President vetoes a bill, it still can become law--if two thirds of the House and the Senate vote to override it. This rarely happens.