It fell to White House press secretary Ari Fleischer yesterday to sound a cautionary note. We had a good top of the first inning, but there are many, many innings to go. Still, says Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, appearances matter. He went out so badly, and even if you weren't a big Bush supporter, by the end of the week you were so relieved to see Bush there and not Clinton. A month and a half ago, people were predicting that for Bush to come into office under the circumstances of a closely contested election and a country that's so divided, the first week would probably be murder, because you'd have so many people angry or claiming he did not have a mandate.
Early impressions can be misleading.
Perhaps the best example of this has been the White House's handling of the first Cabinet meetings of the administration, which have been turned into a weekly gold mine of favorable news for Carter. But Carter was soon regarded as one of the most politically inept presidents and was evicted by the voters after one term, while Clinton, despite his early stumbles, was easily reelected. But if we say the seeds were sown that led to a successful first year, it will mean a lot. When FDR gave his 'nothing to fear' speech in 1933, if nothing else had happened in the next four years, that would have been considered a great speech that didn't lead to anything. Not surprisingly, Chris Lehane, Al Gore's campaign spokesman, hasn't been wowed.