WASHINGTON -- With armed snipers stationed on nearby rooftops and hundreds of security personnel working to control the crowds, George W. Bush had to battle little more than rain drops as he delivered his first speech as President of the United States.
Despite choruses of "boos" arising several times during the ceremony, the enormous crowd around the Capitol was generally courteous and warmly receptive of the newly sworn-in president.
To the surprise of some, the former Texas governor committed only one verbal blunder during his inaugural address (he said "days" instead of "ways" but quickly recovered), resulting in a speech which ran fairly smoothly.
Whether Bush's next few months in office will run as smoothly is a question weighing heavily on the minds of those in the capital and pundits across the country.
Traditionally, an incoming President enjoys a "honeymoon" period during which he receives enthusiastic support from both the public and Congress. At this time, the President may successfully push forward many of the items on his agenda with relative ease.
With an evenly divided Senate and a hotly controversial electoral victory under his belt, the man Bush may find himself deprived of any such period.
"Everyone's pretty confident bipartisanship will last a week or so," a member of House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt's (R-Mo.) staff said. Gephardt himself, the staff member explained, refused to even leave his office to greet Bush while the then President-elect and his wife Laura were visiting the Longworth House Office Building.
Nevertheless, cold welcomes from members of the Democratic party haven't discouraged Bush from taking action on the ideas he initially set forth in his campaign. According to CNN, the administration will be presenting Congress with a plan for education reform next week, with proposed legislation on tax cuts, military pay raises and prescription drug packages for seniors soon to follow.
If this past presidential campaign is any indication, establishing pay increases for the military will be one of Bush's less grief-inducing tasks. Both Bush and former Vice President -- the defeated Democratic presidential nominee -- Al Gore supported increased military spending, especially on the salaries service men, nearly ensuring that the proposal will receive bipartisan support.
Winning Congressional approval on a prescription drug package may prove to be more difficult. Members of Bush's own party, particularly those on the far right, may oppose any prescription drug plan on the grounds that it may cut into the profits of pharmaceutical companies, thereby hindering their ability to fund and perform research. Democrats, on the other hand, depending on the plan Bush sets forth, may criticize the President for being far too accommodating to pharmaceutical companies and will demand a package more responsive to the needs of seniors.
Education reform promises to be even more contentious. Bush, in line with the GOP platform, will ask the Congress to provide for school vouchers. Vouchers -- government-financed subsidies allowing low-income children in failing public schools to attend private or parochial schools " has been an issue long dividing the two parties.
Most Republicans see vouchers as incentives for public schools to "shape up their acts" so that they will not lose their students -- and, consequently, their government-funding -- to privately-funded institutions.
Many Democrats, however, decry vouchers as contradictory to the principle of the separation of church and state and claim school voucher programs will do little to bolster the nation's public school system.
Despite earlier Democratic grumblings about the frivolousness of Bush's proposed $1.3 trillion tax cut package, this may be one of the brighter spots in Bush's agenda. Although most Congressional Democrats will not be completely supportive of Bush's plan, the economy's perceived slow-down may influence many to be open to tax cuts larger than once thought palatable.
A more bitter pill for the Democrats to swallow may come in the form of the reversals of several executive orders made by former President Bill Clinton. It has been widely reported that the new administration intends to review and possibly overturn many of the executive orders issued by Clinton during his last few weeks in office, including those concerning environmental protection.
But before Bush tackles any of his own initiatives, critics point out, he must address the issues left unresolved by the last administration. One of the most prominent of these is the National Missile Defense program. NMD has been a thorn in the side of both parties for some time now. Republicans, although supportive of the general concept, lament NMD's technological shortcomings, while many Democrats outright oppose it, viewing it as, among other things, a bad international relations move. Clinton was able to successfully avoid taking a definitive stance on NMD during his two terms in office, Bush may not be as lucky.
The California energy crisis is another difficult issue looming on the president's crowded horizon. The role Bush should play in alleviating the situation in California is unclear.
What may also bring Bush relief is that he now has a Secretary of Energy -- Spencer Abraham, a former senator from Michigan -- to work with him on the issue. Abraham, along with six other Cabinet members, including now Secretary of State Colin Powell, was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday.
Half of Bush's cabinet picks remain to be confirmed, including Bush's choice for Attorney General, former Missouri Senator John Ashcroft, who is scheduled to face Senate confirmation hearings sometime in the coming weeks. Unlike Powell and Abraham, Ashcroft's confirmation will not run smoothly and may cause more headaches for Bush.
Ashcroft's record on civil rights and staunch opposition to abortion leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many Democrats, some of whom have not hesitated to grill Ashcroft extensively during his nomination hearings.
"It [appeared] almost like a witch hunt to me," remarked one Congressional aide, who was present during the hearings. "It seemed like the odds were stacked against him before he even started."
If Bush is worried about Ashcroft's confirmation or the any of the other items he will be forced to deal with in the near future, he hasn't shown it. Many pundits remark that Bush, despite coming into power over an ideologically divided country, has remained fairly confident and seems intent to push forth his resolutions without compromise.
