[Bill Hemmer, Cnn Anchor:] $87 billion is the number the president asked for last night, more than expected, though. In his speech, the president says he will spend what is necessary to win the war on terror, but will Congress now approve that money? Suzanne Malveaux, the north lawn at the White House, to take us through it this morning good morning, there.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Bill. It really was a critical speech for the president, who faces questions and criticism about his ability to handle the economy, the Middle East and, of course, Iraq. The focus last night on Iraq. And he said, he characterized it as the central front in the war on terror. Now, the purpose of all of this is really to try to prepare the American people for the fact that this occupation is going to cost billions and billions of dollars more than expected. The president is going to be going before Congress, asking for $87 billion. He also said it's going to take a long-term commitment of U.S. troops and personnel. The president making the argument that it's critical for national security.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] Our strategy in Iraq will require new resources. We have conducted a thorough assessment of our military and reconstruction needs in Iraq, and also in Afghanistan. I will soon submit to Congress a request for $87 billion.
[Malveaux:] Well, many lawmakers afterwards said that they would support that. They did say, however, that they'd have to take a second look at the federal deficit. We're looking at, you know, close to $500 billion for 2004. Senator Joe Biden, Democrat, summed it up pretty well when he said he thought the administration is going to have to eat crow on this one to figure out just how they're going to fund it.
[Sen. Joseph Biden , Foreign Relations Committee:] We have no choice. We must, we must keep this commitment in Iraq. It's going to be hard. I will support him. I will support spending that money. And I hope we decide that there's other ways to pay for it, as well as just adding to the deficit.
[Malveaux:] One of the things you're going to hear over and over, Bill, particularly from Democratic presidential hopefuls, they're going to be calling for the repeal of those tax cuts that the president is calling to make permanent now. It is one of the reasons that the administration, of course, is going to the international community, also asking for additional funding Bill.
[Hemmer:] Suzanne, thanks, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. David Gergen was an adviser to four different presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. He's editor-at-large of the "U.S. News & World Report." He's our guest this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Good to have you here.
[David Gergen, Former Presidential Adviser:] Thank you, Bill.
[Hemmer:] We've heard descriptions such as "sober" and "serious" for this speech last night. How did you see it?
[Gergen:] I thought it was a brave speech. The president knew he needed to shore up his support among the American people because he's had a horrible last few months in Iraq and, indeed, in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. And heading south, he needed to find some way to reverse this and to prepare the country to accept both costs, financially, and in terms of casualties, because the casualty figures are also mounting. We don't hear about those very often, but as many as 10 Americans a day are being wounded in Iraq in addition to those who are being killed. And so I think he set that up well. But the $87 billion number we've had from the administration, while it was welcomed, is also eye popping. It is far more than anybody expected and, more than that, it does not seem to be enough, according to many experts. Three quarters of this money is going for military and intelligence. The rest is going for reconstruction. But the amount for reconstruction, for restoring the water system and the electricity system and the like, seems far less than people think ultimately it's going to cost. So the number, even at $87 billion, seems well below what ultimately we're going to need.
[Hemmer:] We just heard from Senator Joe Biden, in part, some of his comments from last night. Some of the other things he said, though, with regard to this appeal now to the U.N., he calls it an incredible first step. He says it takes a big man to do something like this. Do you see it as a substantial pivot right now, an Iraqi policy with Colin Powell now, stage two, going back to the U.N. and trying to get much more help?
[Gergen:] No, I do not. I think it's an important step, an important shift in policy to go to the U.N. to seek help. But realistically, how much help we're going to get, we should not expect a lot. Colin Powell has already lowered expectations of how many troops we might get from this. You know, many thought we needed as many as 50,000 new troops in there. He said yesterday we're looking at maybe 15,000 troops from the international community. Similarly on the monetary side, unless we're willing to turn over the political administration of Iraq to the U.N. and right now we're not there are many nations on the Security Council, it appears a majority, who will not be in favor of a resolution and, indeed, of ponying up the money of the kind we look for. So I think it's going I think it's a good attempt, but the president did not hold out many conciliatory branches of peace to the other nations, nor did he give them much authority in this, did he cede much authority. Given that, I think the likelihood is the United States is going to bear the huge brunt of the cost of this war.
[Hemmer:] There are new poll numbers out. I want you to try and make sense of these for us.
[Gergen:] Sure.
[Hemmer:] The approval rating for the president is the lowest we have seen, 52 percent right now, at the bottom of your screen. It's relative to where he was back in January, but now here we are eight, nine months later, and the world has literally shifted in that period of time. But there is another poll number here that shows something else, how the U.S. has handled Iraq since major fighting ended, which was the 1st of May. A good job given despite the headlines of U.S. soldiers getting knocked off, at one point it seemed like almost on a daily basis. What do you make sense of those numbers there?
[Gergen:] Oh, I think the president has a continuing reservoir of support for the war against terrorism and as commander-in-chief. And Americans will try to rally to him and want him to succeed. We're all in this together. And therefore I think that's, that poll number is somewhat of a lagging indicator. When people see the price tag and the casualties continue going up, those numbers are going to continue dropping, just as his popularity has dropped. And there was one poll over the weekend, not a CNN poll, which has an approval rating even down in the 40s, down at 45 percent, in a Zogby poll. So this is a serious situation for the president. He is making an attempt to shore it up. But I'll tell you, he's, he has transformed the war on terrorism now into something that I don't think anybody expected when we started. It started out as a war to beat back and to arrest and to kill those who were attacking America. And that started in Afghanistan and then we moved over to Iraq to go after Saddam because he presented a threat. It is now morphing into a commitment to rebuild Iraq and to achieve peace and security not only in Iraq, but, indeed, in much of the Middle East. That is a major change in our, what our overall purpose of this war is and how we define success. I think the president has raised the stakes for himself. He has raised the stakes for his presidency, so that if there are more explosions in the next few months, he himself will be his approval ratings will suffer some more. But, more importantly, he has committed the United States to what Condy Rice has said could be the work of a generation. That is a big shift for the United States. And this is, the bill we're getting now, the $87 billion, is the first, only the first down payment on this war.
[Hemmer:] Appreciate it, always, Devoid.
[Gergen:] Thank you.
[Hemmer:] Thanks for being with us today. David Gergen in Massachusetts.