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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (513334)	12/19/2003 11:15:47 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 769670

RE-Post: Treasury's Snow: U.S. Economy Has 'Turned the Corner' Friday, December 19, 2003 U.S. Treasury (search) Secretary John Snow (search) Thursday expressed strong optimism about the economy, forecasting an accelerating recovery which will create more and more jobs. "It's clear we're in the midst of a good recovery. We've turned the corner," Snow said in an interview on Fox News Channel's Your World with Neil Cavuto. Click here for a transcript of the interview. "I think we're poised for good news on the economic front for some time to come," he said, adding that he thought the United States was "getting into the sweet spot of the economy." "I think we're going to have a good economy. I think all the signs point to a good recovery," Snow said. "Actually, an accelerating recovery in which we'll see more and more jobs created, continuing strong capital spending, continuing high productivity, low inflation, low interest rates. I think we are — as somebody described it to me recently, we're getting into the sweet spot of the economy." Snow also told Fox he had been in contact with former Treasury Secretary James Baker about the issue of Iraqi debt reduction. "Without substantial debt relief, the Iraqi people will not have the opportunity for the peace and prosperity that they deserve," Snow said. URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106150,00.html

To: calgal who wrote (513334)	12/19/2003 11:15:55 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

'Tis the Season to Buy foxnews.com

To: calgal who wrote (513334)	12/19/2003 11:46:53 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

The Politics of Positive Thinking By E. J. Dionne Jr. Friday, December 19, 2003; Page A37 Many of the Democratic presidential candidates who once competed over who could sound the most hostile to George W. Bush are now in a contest over who can offer the toughest critique of Howard Dean. These scuffles reflect the extent to which Dean has dominated the campaign and forced his opponents to react to him. Dean set off the anti-Bush competition and is now the clear front-runner. His opponents are scrambling for a new strategy, and the capture of Saddam Hussein allowed them to pivot to denunciations of Dean as unelectable, inexperienced and out of touch on foreign policy. Sen. Joe Lieberman won the contest for the harshest words. Dean, he said, would "take us back to the days when we Democrats were not trusted to defend America's security." Lieberman has decided, probably shrewdly, that his only chance of emerging alive from the early primary contests is to establish himself as the most forceful anti-Dean candidate -- even if doing so risks deep divisions in the party reminiscent of the Vietnam era. Yet the week's most intriguing story line was offered by the candidates who did not bark. Rep. Richard Gephardt was relatively restrained, though he had hit Dean hard earlier in the fall on Medicare and other domestic issues. It was retired Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. John Edwards who left the Dean bashing to others. The reticence of Clark and Edwards is instructive. Both are placing their biggest bets on the primaries that take place after Iowa and New Hampshire -- especially the Feb. 3 contests in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico. By contrast, Gephardt and Sen. John Kerry are in life-or-death struggles with Dean. Gephardt needs to win or do very well against Dean in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 19, and Kerry must do the same in the New Hampshire primary eight days later. Clark also had the advantage of being in The Hague for Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial at the time Hussein was captured. This kept the general out of the fray. "We certainly felt it would have been bad to do anything political while he was there," said Eli Segal, Clark's campaign chairman. By simply doing what he was doing, Segal said, Clark underscored his background in foreign policy, including his experience "in dealing with a dictator." In any event, Clark, as a critic of the Iraq war, is in no position to criticize Dean on the issue. Edwards's case is the most interesting. The North Carolina senator voted for the war and might have joined the gang tackle of Dean. But Edwards has positioned himself as the aspirant with a larder full of specific policies -- and he may be the only candidate who will give a speech titled "In Defense of Optimism." If Edwards fails, his opponents are likely to raid his store of ideas and circle back to his optimism. Edwards's address last Friday to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco didn't mention Dean, though it was a clear critique of Dean's approach. But in retrospect, Edwards's sunniness also stands in sharp contrast to the scratching and clawing at Dean among the other Democratic candidates. Taking Franklin Roosevelt as his model, Edwards noted that FDR "didn't scare people or feed their fears. He didn't tell his fellow Democrats that Hoover's errors were all their fault, and that the Depression could have been avoided if they had just gotten in Hoover's face. He told the country to disdain fear. He inspired hope, and his optimism defined our party and our country." "My own belief is that this sniping back and forth doesn't help candidates," Edwards said in a telephone interview from Philadelphia on Wednesday night. "This back-and-forth looks entirely political." Edwards says that if he's asked whether he agrees with Dean's foreign views, "my answer is, 'No, he's wrong.' " But he added: "I don't want that to be the driving force of the campaign." Edwards is not above attacking his foes directly, as he did when Dean spoke of wanting to be "the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." And staying on the sidelines as the other candidates cut each other up is as much in Edwards's interest as the attacks are in theirs. Edwards, like Clark, is positioning himself to be the candidate who remains standing. Edwards's gamble is that walking the sunny side of the street will set him off from Dean's other rivals now -- and provide a useful contrast to Dean later if the two ever get into a showdown. Long shots usually lose, but they often have the luxury of pursuing the most intriguing paths.