http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2005/01/16/bush_says_victory_was_mandate_on_us_policy_on_iraq/Bush(like Nixon 72)says victory was mandate (on US policy on Iraq)
Sets no limits on troops' stay
By Jim VandeHei and Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post | January 16, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said that the public's decision to reelect him was a ratification of his approach toward Iraq and that there was no reason to hold any administration officials accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in prewar planning or managing the violent aftermath.
"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me."
With the Iraq elections two weeks away, and no signs of the deadly insurgency abating, Bush set no timetable for withdrawing US troops and twice declined to endorse Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's recent statement that the number of Americans serving in Iraq could be reduced by year's end. Bush said he will not ask Congress to expand the size of the National Guard or Army, as some lawmakers and military specialists propose.
In a wide-ranging, 35-minute interview aboard Air Force One on Friday, Bush also laid out new details of his second-term plans for both foreign and domestic policy. For the first time, Bush said he will not press senators to pass a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the top priority for many social conservative groups. And he said he has no plans to cut benefits for the roughly 40 percent of Social Security recipients who ("CURRENTLY")collect monthly disability and survivors payments as he prepares his plan for partial privatization.<snip>
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