President, Pelosi talk of bipartisanship

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and soon-to-be House speaker Nancy Pelosi pronounced themselves ready to work together in the new Congress, as the president and top Democrat in the House take steps to repair a strained relationship that grew increasingly bitter during this year's congressional campaigns.

After lunch in the Oval Office -- Pelosi and Bush's first post election meeting -- the president and representative shared a photo opportunity and made pleasant talk of bipartisanship and comity. As she sat stiff-backed and beaming in her chair, Bush called it "historic" and "important" that Pelosi will become the first female House speaker, noting that he was speaking "as the father of young women."

"The elections are now behind us, and the congresswoman's party won," Bush said, with Vice President Dick Cheney at his side and Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, House Democratic whip, seated next to Pelosi. "But the challenges still remain, and, therefore, we're going to work together to address those challenges in a constructive way."

Pelosi, a California Democrat who probably will become House speaker in January, said she and the president "both extended the hand of friendship, of partnership . . . We've made history. Now we have to make progress."

Campaigning for Republicans before Tuesday's midterm elections, Bush mocked Pelosi as a closet tax-raiser and warned that terrorists would cheer if she and her fellow Democrats took power. Conversely, Pelosi was the lead voice in a chorus of Democrats slamming the president for the Iraq war, calling him "oblivious, in denial, dangerous."

But Bush made a move yesterday that's destined to provoke Democrats even before Congress adjourns for the year: He renominated interim UN ambassador John R. Bolton. The Democrats probably will kill the nomination just as they did in 2005, when the president first chose Bolton -- a blunt-spoken former State Department official and a harsh UN critic -- for the job.

The White House still won't let Democrats see documents they say would show whether Bolton misused National Security Agency intercepts. Last year, Bush bypassed the Senate and appointed Bolton on a temporary basis, but that appointment ends in December, and leading Democrats aren't interested in extending it.

"I see no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again in the Foreign Relations Committee, because regardless of what happens there, he is unlikely to be considered by the full Senate," said Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the committee's top Democrat.

Even Senator Lincoln D. Chafee of Rhode Island, another committee member and moderate Republican who lost reelection Tuesday, chastised the president for trying again to get Bolton confirmed .

"To confirm Mr. Bolton to the position of UN ambassador would fly in the face of the clear consensus of the country that a new direction is called for," Chafee said.

Bush will host newly empowered Democrats again today, with Senate minority leader Harry Reid and minority whip Richard J. Durbin scheduled to join him for lunch. Reid is in line to become majority leader when the 110th Congress begins in January.

But as the looming Bolton stand off suggests, the contours of compromise between the White House and congressional Democrats are difficult to discern. Both sides are avoiding specific talk of areas where they might give ground.

The president wants his first-term tax cuts extended; Democrats want to end his tax cuts for the wealthy. Bush wants to restructure Social Security by establishing private investment accounts; Democrats ran on a platform that rejected the idea.

On Iraq, Democrats largely favor a phased withdrawal of troops tied to deadlines, but Bush has refused to set benchmarks for drawdowns. Meanwhile, Democratic committee chairmen are poised to launch scores of investigations on the administration's conduct -- inquiries that are certain to sour even the strongest of political relationships.

The two sides can't even agree on who's responsible for the partisan paralysis in Washington.

Tony Snow, White House press secretary, blames the Democrats, who he said decided early in Bush's tenure that they would no longer cooperate with the president. Yesterday, Snow said he is "encouraged" by Democrats' early signals that they want to work with the administration.

"Having run a campaign where they were harshly critical of the president, they're now stakeholders, and they have an opportunity to work with the president," Snow said.

In the short term, both sides have ratcheted down the partisan rhetoric that marked the bruising campaign. At her first news conference since Tuesday, Pelosi declared that "Democrats are not about getting even," and pointedly brushed aside some liberals' demands by repeating her declaration that the "impeachment [of Bush] is off the table."

Bush and his aides have been no less conciliatory; the president's first post election move was to oust Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a dramatic gesture that satisfies Democrats' repeated demands for his firing.

Asked on CBS's "Early Show" about the menu for the president's lunch with Pelosi, White House counselor Dan Bartlett joked that the president would probably be eating "a little bit of crow." White House political adviser Karl Rove, humbled by his bold but erroneous predictions that Republicans would hold their ground on Election Day, handed out chocolate-covered cherries to White House reporters, calling it a "gesture of humility."

Snow said Bush "doesn't get on the couch" for soul-searching and doesn't interpret the Democrats' win as the public's rejection of his agenda or his policies on Iraq.

"And what you have to do is now figure out how you're going to proceed," Snow said. "The president is going to be absolutely aggressive on making sure that these last two years are years in which we do accomplish a lot of the people's business."