Bush to face tough crowd of Democrats

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - President Bush accepted an invitation to speak Saturday to about 200 House Democrats — the same bunch that in November wrestled control of the chamber away from Republicans for the first time in a dozen years.

What do the Democrats want to hear from him?

"I think one signal the president could give ... is to acknowledge the work that the House has already done on these issues and to tell us he looks forward to many of these bills getting to his desk," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (news, bio, voting record) of Maryland, the new chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

It's possible. Following the thumping Democrats gave the president's party in the November midterm elections, Bush has granted several of the new majority's demands, providing some weight to his claim of seeking bipartisan consensus on some public policy issues.

He acknowledged making mistakes in Iraq, fired Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and surrendered the fight for John Bolton at the United Nations.

Reflecting the target set by Democrats, Bush has promised a plan to balance the budget by 2012 — after aggressively presiding over record deficits and tax cuts.

And the president has agreed tentatively to a minimum wage increase, which both the House and Senate have passed in separate, very different bills.

All of those gestures have earned Bush a respectful, if not warm, reception at the Kingsmill Resort & Spa, where Democrats have spent two days celebrating their new position of power and talking issues, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record).

Pelosi and caucus chairman Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record), R-Ill., said Democrats would ask Bush five questions that focus on the war in Iraq. They declined to reveal them.

Democrats, of course, have yet to answer conclusively what any resolution opposing Bush's buildup of 21,500 troops might say. Also splitting the party is what should be done if the buildup fails to stop the violent insurgency there. Strip the budget of war funding? Cap the number of troops in Iraq? Refuse to fund future deployments in six months or a year?

However high-minded the Democrats planned to be during Bush's visit, they couldn't help pointing out a few things.

Talking points that Pelosi left behind after her chat with reporters note that it was Bush, not the Democrats, who ordered the question-and-answer portion of his appearance closed to press. Democrats, her talking points said, would "certainly" answer questions afterward.

She did not mention that the caucus banned reporters from the resort, except for Bush's speech.

Democrats said their retreat was a time to celebrate their election successes out of public view. But what they really were celebrating, one leader said, was being included in the policymaking process.

What decisions to make could wait until they return to Washington.

"Euphoric may be a little heavy, but certainly very, very energized and happy and optimistic about the ability to do things," said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record), D-Md., describing the mood. "There's a great sense of engagement, of solidarity in the caucus."

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/house_democrats [link]