WP: A Domestic Policy in Sharp Focus (more power for *)

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Bush Approach to Be More Disciplined and Aggressive

Friday, December 10, 2004; Page A01

President Bush is moving quickly to create a new, tighter and more disciplined domestic policy team to pursue transforming the way Americans save for retirement, pay taxes and seek legal damages.

Convinced his leadership style and policy vision were vindicated by the election results, Bush is aggressively targeting these domestic programs for the second term by essentially replicating the formula he used to reshape foreign policy in the first. This includes creating a small, loyal and trustworthy team to press for sweeping changes largely dictated by the White House.

To build public support and circumvent critics in Congress and the media, the president will travel the country and warn of the disastrous consequences of inaction, as he did to sell his Iraq and terrorism policies during the first term, White House officials said. He is also enlisting well-funded conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation to help build the case for change -- or "reform," in the words of the White House -- through ads and commentary on television and in targeted publications, the aides said.

Bush's post-election moves to strengthen White House control of the government reflect his plans for an aggressive second-term focus on domestic policy, which in his first term was overshadowed by the national security fallout from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The agenda includes creating private Social Security accounts for younger workers, revising the tax code to make it less complicated, limiting the size and number of lawsuits, and changing immigration laws.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53451-2004Dec9.html