Bush's First Press Conference

Or

How W Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Press Conferences

President Bush: Good evening my fellow Americans. It has been an extremely hard year for all of us. It has been a hard transition year for me as your president. The economy has been sluggish and inflation has been steep. Chaos in foreign markets triggered by skyrocketing oil prices has eroded world peace. "It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas." The bad news is that the budget deficit this year will be the highest in eight years. For this reason, I have postponed the third tax cut for a few months. I do this with a heavy heart but I must do it. "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family" but "the future will be better tomorrow." Questions?
 

Reporter: Mr. President, you have been in office for 13 months and this is your first press conference. Is there a reason you have been reluctant to speak to the press?
 

President Bush: Well this is a different administration and I am a different president. The last president made a show of feeling your pain. Not me. "I pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell." "Remember, verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."  Next question.
 

Reporter: Mr. President, the economy has tanked after your two tax cuts. Even members of your own party are skeptical. What plans do you have for the economy?
 

President Bush: Very good question. I have a one word for that - "Alan Greenspan."
 

Reporter: Excuse me Mr. President but as a follow-up, you yourself said that we have the worst deficit in the last eight years. Since you are planning on cutting taxes again, are you going to slash the budget?
 

President Bush: Of course I am going to cut taxes again. That is not the problem. "I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth to the middle class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth." And small business. When you cut taxes, you help small business. That is the economy. "I understand small business growth. I was one." You know how my predecessors used fuzzy math by having more money coming into the treasury than they spent. "It's clearly the budget. It has a lot of numbers on it." Unlike my predecessors, I want to keep the money out of Washington. "They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program." Next.question.
 

Reporter: Mr. President, do you have plans to deal with the world crisis?

President Bush: This is where I am focusing my energy right now. Let me say one thing.

First - "Keep good relations with the Grecians."

Second - "If the East Timorians decide to revolt, I'm sure I'll have a statement."

Third - "We have a firm commitment to NATO; we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."

Fourth - "We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."

Fifth - "The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned first-hand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas."

Sixth - This is a dangerous world. "It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mential losses." That is why we need to cut taxes.
 

Reporter: Mr. President, the Democrats are questioning your judgments in the current world crisis. They say...
 

President Bush: Now wait a minute. "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."  I was governor of a big state - second biggest state in the country. Now I am president of a big country - sec...err...thir...err... one of the biggest countries in the world. "The Clinton administration has done practically nothing to protect our country. They've turned our country into a rodeo clown."  But not anymore. "I think we can agree. The past is over."  "I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace." "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change."

Reporter: Mr. President, you campaigned as the education president. Yet by all accounts, you have not even proposed one educational reform.
 

President Bush: "One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is to be prepared." The same holds true for a president. That is what we've been doing with education. As governor of Texas, "I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards." We know that "reading is the basics for all learning" yet we are in an education recession in this country. "Rarely is the question asked, 'Is our children learning?'" It is a problem. I know it is a problem. I am not going to answer that though. You should ask that of the Secretary of Education. He has been speaking to teachers all over the country. "Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children." However, I will say emphatically, "we're going to have the best educated American people in the world."
 

Reporter: Mr. President, the Sierra Club has named you as the worst environmental president in the history of the United States.

President Bush: What do you expect from the Sierra Club? I believe in consensus building. That is what I did in Texas. "I'm a uniter not a divider. That means when it comes time to sew up your chest cavity, we use stitches as opposed to opening it up." The people at the Sierra Club are always harping on pollution. "You can't take the high horse and then claim the low road." "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment.  It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." And the Secretary of the Interior is dealing with just that. We will succeed.  "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." Final question.

Reporter: Mr. President, you made character a cornerstone of your campaign. Will you tell us how it has helped the country in the past year?

President Bush: "I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together." That is the most important part of this administration. "I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans." "If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign." "I know how proud I am to be standing up." "I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican." "Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child." We are for right to life. "We believe that illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it." "You know, hopefully, condoms will work, but it hasn't worked." We believe in core values. The values of Middle America. I just visited the heartland of our country. "It was just inebriating what Midland was all about then." "Like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself." And family values. "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." Unlike my predecessor, "I have learned from mistakes I may or may not have made." "I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California." So even now, I do not consider myself a Washington insider. Unlike the legalistic rulings of judges, "I know there ought to be limits to freedom." It is a refreshing time to be in our great country. We will be remaking our country with a sense of pride and a sense of value. Have we done enough? Not by any stretch of the imagination. "We ought to make the pie higher." In conclusion, I will again show the difference between us and the previous administration by stating that "I stand by all the misstatements that I've made." Good night and God Bless America.