Week 1: Jan 22-26 2001
Former Clinton administration Chief of Staff Leon Panetta warned that leading with the
tax cut would be unwise. "You can't slam
dunk a tax cut package the size they're talking about," Panetta said Sunday on CNN's "Late
Edition." Panetta added that it might be
best for Bush in his first 100 days if he focused on trying to complete a limited, defined
agenda. "If he can get education reform
accomplished, if he could do something on campaign reform in a bipartisan way,
then that could send a very important signal to
the American people that he's going to
try to get things done."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson after disclosure about his affair that produced an illegitimate child
said Jan 24, 2001: "My voice will be
heard and it will be part of a chorus of voices demanding for our nation as we seek to be a more
perfect union, demanding human
rights for all, economic security for all, health care for all," Jackson told CNN.
Letter to Bush: Other black clergymen are wondering if working closer with the new Bush administration
would be more
productive than protests: "We in the black community have to move beyond the gratuitous use of
the race card to retard debate and
move forwards towards focuses on measurable outcomes," said the Rev. Eugene Rivers of the
Azusa Christian Community near
Boston, Massachusetts. "The challenge to the president is therefore important because if he does
not want to give some
acknowledgment to the protest, if he does not want to accord respect to the congressional Black Caucus,
the civil rights leadership,
the fraternal leadership, and those mainline leaders, then he's still faced with this group, which is posing
him the same challenge in
terms of public policy," said Ronald Walters, a professor of Afro-American studies and government
and politics at the University of
Maryland. The group that sent the letter to the White House stressed that they were seeking deeds
from the new administration,
not words: "We're trying to resist the impulse to confuse political theatre with the
concrete results, because children in Harlem and
Harare need more than press clips and rhetoric," said Rivers.
Time for new leaders: Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Constitution said the time has come for new
leaders to come forward: "I think
we are rapidly approaching the time when the African-American community can look forward to a new
generation of leaders
who did not come out of grass roots civil rights activism," she said on CNN's "Inside Politics."
But Walters said that the black
community needs out-front leaders who draw controversy because their role is to kick up dust,
to wage the case against racism in the
country.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, called the Justice Department a "cesspool"
on Wednesday and labeled
some
Democrats who have led the opposition to the nomination of John Ashcroft to head the agency as "extremists.
"The
nominations of
most of the other Cabinet appointees of President George W. Bush are breezing through confirmation.
And despite opposition to
Ashcroft, observers from both parties predict he will be confirmed. About a dozen Bush administration
appointees have arrived in the
Justice Department to pave the way for a rapid transition of power. "I was disturbed and
shocked a little bit by the tone in the
Judiciary Committee," he said. "I guess I shouldn't have been shocked. That extreme left
is there, has been there and I guess will be
there. I thought that two or three of the senators, without naming names, went over the top in some
of the opposition." Lott's
comments came several minutes after he noted an improvement in the overall tone of political interaction in
Washington since
President Bush was elected. He also said he agreed with comments by Banking Committee chairman Phil
Gramm, R-Texas, that the
size of Bush's proposed plan to cut taxes by $1.6 trillion over 10 years could actually get bigger as
Democrats chip in with tax
reduction ideas of their own.
back to the TOP 
issues
5-66d) 7Cm
Staff/Lobby