First 100 days: What should be atop the Bush agenda?

BY: Grover Norquist, special to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
DATE: January 21, 2001
SECTION: Crossroads; Page. 03J
LENGTH: 1974 words

Show a spirit of bipartisanship? Or show the Democrats who's boss? Look for a legislative victory? First impressions can be crucial - and presidents typically try to set a tone for their tenure during their first 100 days.

President George W. Bush has taken office with a strong agenda, but little mandate for action.

Prominent members of the worlds of politics, business, science and education suggest what should - or shouldn't - be at the top of the agenda for the new resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Reach out to the rest of the Americas-Grover Norquist

George W. Bush doesn't have to do anything to define himself in the first 100 days of his administration.

He ran as what Margaret Thatcher called a "conviction politician," a man with a defined political agenda. Everyone already knows that he is committed to significant tax reduction; to reforming Social Security in order to give individuals control and ownership over their retirement income; to reforming Medicare to give older Americans choice and control; to rebuilding our nation's defenses and constructing anti- missile defenses; and to improving education through accountability and parental choice.

Bush doesn't face an economic Dunkirk, as did Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan. Nor does he face the kind of hostile Congress that Reagan did.

He needn't attack Congress or lay siege to the Hill. On many issues, there have already been demonstrated bipartisan majorities for policies Bush supports: abolishing the death tax and the marriage penalty; repealing the 3% federal excise tax on telephones; building a missile defense system; restricting partial-birth abortions; reforming bankruptcy laws; expanding IRAs and 401(k)s; and modest tort reform. In the last eight years, gridlock has flowed from President Clinton's veto, not from the Hill.

With the great freedom he thus enjoys in his first 100 days, I would urge President Bush to announce a goal to be achieved by the end of the decade: that of a fully free, fully democratic Western Hemisphere that is also a free- trade zone.

Bush has endorsed all the component parts of this vision during his governorship and campaign. In pushing to realize it, he would be building on a history that includes the Monroe Doctrine, FDR's Good Neighbor Policy and Reagan's North American accord, which led to the creation of NAFTA by the elder Bush and Bill Clinton.

Two world wars and the Cold War have distracted and distanced America from our brothers in this hemisphere. Bush, for many reasons, is the right president to commit America to their cause. Eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers will create jobs and opportunities for all Americans -- North, South and Central -- and increased trade will bring us together on a personal as well as economic level.

Cuba should be promised complete economic integration as soon as the Castro dictatorship is ended.

Oh, yes. One last thought. Please, Mr. President, open up Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House and undo Clinton's land grab out West. Neither the District of Columbia nor the West should be treated as conquered territory by the federal government.