Bush begins fence-mending
2006-11-09 19:57
Washington - US President George W Bush
began mending fences on Thursday with a Democratic Party
suddenly resurrected after six years of Republican dominance.
Bush planned White House meetings with Democratic leaders,
following reports that the party had won enough seats to take
the US senate and will control both houses of congress for
the first time in 12 years.
Democrats easily won control of the
house of representatives in Tuesday's elections seen as an
expression of public dissatisfaction over the Iraq war.
In the last senate race to be decided, James Webb - a former
Republican secretary of the navy - beat Virginia senator George
Allen to give Democrats their 51st seat in the 100-seat senate,
according to projections by television networks NBC and CBS and
The Associated Press.
Allen has not conceded.
Lunch
Bush a planned a White House lunch with the new Democratic
house leadership about the final two years of his term, with
Iraq expected to be the main focus.
Presidential counsellor Dan Bartlett said on Wednesday: "The
president has been in politics long enough to understand when
an election is had and the voters' views are being heard loud
and clear.
"That you have to move forward, and that's exactly
what he's going to do."
Reflecting a reshaped political landscape, Bush announced
the resignation of defence secretary Donald
Rumsfeld - the first victim of the Republicans' heavy losses in
the congressional elections.
Bipartisanship
Trying to salvage the rest of his presidency, Bush promised
a new tone of bipartisanship after years of rancour between the
two parties.
Control of key house committees could give Democrats more
leverage in influencing Iraq policy as well as the ability to
cripple Bush's domestic legislative agenda if they see fit.
Democrats gained about 30 seats to take control of the
house in Tuesday's election.
In Virginia, Webb led Allen by about 7 000 votes out of 2.3
million cast, according to media tallies.
A senior adviser to
the Allen campaign told Reuters that Allen was awaiting a
re-canvassing of the returns, which was expected sometime on
Thursday.
If the numbers continue to favour Webb, Allen "has
absolutely no intention of dragging this out," the adviser
said.
- Reuters