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Three critical moments
By Judy Woodruff
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three critical moments in George W. Bush's presidency occurred this week. One planned long ago: the release of his blueprint for government spending in the coming 2004 fiscal year, the "Bush budget" proposal. One planned just recently: the presentation by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. Security Council of new evidence of Iraqi weapons programs, crucial for the U.S. case for going to war. And one not planned at all: the Columbia shuttle disaster. Together they pose an obvious challenge for the president, but they also present an opportunity. The budget is a place for presidents to put up or shut up. Favored programs are beefed up while others are squeezed. For the next fiscal year, President Bush proposes a fat increase for the Pentagon and little or no increase for most social programs. All this on top of his recent tax cut proposals, which aim most of their benefits at the well-to-do. But the most notable feature is that the Bush plan would leave the government deeper in the red than any budget in history, with a deficit over $300 billion. All this would normally be fodder for Democrats looking for weak spots as they plot ways to win back the White House in 2004. Even a number of Republicans raised alarms about the record deficit. The conservative Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, referring to the impact of the president's tax cut plan, complained of red ink: "as far as the eye can see." The announced Democratic candidates for president are more muscular in their denunciations. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri called it "reckless" to stick with the tax cuts; Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts charged that the Bush budget neglects "homeland security, health care, and education." But most of these broadsides fell on deaf ears, partly because the budget release fell two days before Powell's appearance before the United Nations as part of a flurry of diplomatic efforts to win international approval for a U.S.-led attack on Iraq. What all but drowned out the Democratic message, though, was the Columbia disaster. Understandably, the nation was riveted by the horrible accident that took the lives of seven heroic astronauts. For his part, Bush was called on to perform the hardest job any president is ever asked to do: Offer the sympathy of an entire nation to grieving family members. The phone call and the television address Saturday, the private meetings and memorial remarks on Tuesday, tested the president and held him up to comparison with his predecessors and their handling of moments of national shock and mourning -- President Reagan after the Challenger accident in 1986, President Clinton after the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal building 10 years later. It is in moments like these -- moments that rise above partisan politics -- that presidents can not only change the subject in their favor, they can win the sort of long-lasting respect and admiration that stands them in good stead when arguments over budget deficits lose steam. Democrats will have to wait for another chance to be heard. Judy Woodruff is CNN's prime anchor and senior correspondent. She also anchors "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics," weekdays at 3:30 pm ET.
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