NB: THIS TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A TRANSCRIPTION UNIT RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT: BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF MIS- HEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY, IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS ACCURACY. ........................................................................ PANORAMA "The Accidental PRESIDENT" RECORDED FROM TRANSMISSION: BBC-1 DATE: 21:01:01 ........................................................................ GAVIN HEWITT: Like father like son. GEORGE W. BUSH: I George Walker Bush do solemnly swear.... GEORGE H. BUSH: ... that I will faithfully execute..... GEORGE W. BUSH: .. the office of President of the United States. DOUG WEAD: He loves his father and a deep respect, awe almost, of his father. HEWITT: But unlike his father, doubts about the son have followed him all the way to the gates of the White house. DAVID GERGEN: If he were not a Bush he would not be President today. ELLIOTT NAISHTAT: He doesn't read books and he doesn't read magazines except sports magazines. ELLIS: The image of him as the nitwit who can barely get across.. you know.. can barely read a sentence is ludicrous. HEWITT: Tonight on Panorama the story of 'the accidental president'. The gowns - red buckskin, cobra snake skin; the food - long horned brisket, and the boots came with silver spurs. The Texans had arrived in Washington certain that their man will put his stamp on America. MALE: President Bush will bring a spirit of individualism to this country that we have not seen in 50 years. FEMALE: He will bring back decency to the White House. MALE: Families, good wholesome values, and the kind of America that Americans love. HEWITT: This is Midland Texas. It's oil country and the place George W. Bush calls home. He made this his final stop before going to Washington. The fact that he only scraped victory has been forgotten here as he talks of wanting a Western mentality at the heart of his administration. In Midland he was among his oldest friends like Joe O'Neill, an oil man and one time drinking partner. Accountant Robert McCleskey who still hand's the Bush family finances. He promised to take their values - rugged individualism, mistrust of government - with him to the White House. But the man he wanted to talk about on this occasion was his father. G.W. BUSH: My dad taught me, in the way he lived, that life is more than personal gain and I'll always be thankful that he raised me in Midland Texas. (Cheers and applause) DAVID GERGEN Former White House Advisor There's a sort of swashbuckling style to some of Texas. There are a lot of sort of God fearing folk, if you like, who are going to think George W. Bush is the right, he's the model of what a lot of Americans look to. He's not quite the Marlboro man but he has some of those qualities. GAVIN HEWITT This is the Governor's Mansion in Texas from where George W. Bush left just a few days ago to become the 43rd President. But even some of his closest friends are a little bemused at the speed of it. But this is a man who only entered politics six years ago. George W. Bush himself says the key to his success lies in his personality, but many Americans confess to knowing little about the man who's just entered the White House. George W. Bush grew up in a family with a strong sense that it was one of America's political clans connected to power. The Bushes had a tradition of going into politics but making their money first. G.W. was to develop an intense loyalty to his father, a man who had gone South to make his fortune out of oil. BILL MINUTAGLIO Bush Biographer I believe that he grew up with an enormous set of expectations on him that he was the Prince, the Heir in this dynasty to his father. I think in large measure his ascendancy to the Presidency is formed by his need, by his deep inner need to somehow or other meet those expectations in the family, maybe even surpass his father in some way. HEWITT: He followed his father's path, the same elite colleges. At Yale his father had been a legend in class. George W. would be remembered for his partying. Soon after he left college he helped his father who was running as a Republican for a senate seat in Texas, but it was tough going. Back then Texas belonged to the Democratic Party and George W. watched in tears as his father conceded defeat. G.H. BUSH: Nobody likes to lose but certainly he ran a good tough race and I wish him the best. DOUG WEAD Friend He loves his father and had deep respect, awe almost, of his father. So I think he relished in his father's victories, and of course suffered when his father was not elected. HEWITT: After, George W. drifted, trying one thing and another. His father, however, was gliding through prominent posts. Ambassador to the UN, China and Director of the CIA. His son was young, unsettled, untethered. JOHN ELLIS Cousin There were people who looked at George W. and said.. you know.. can he measure up to dad. And there were people, I think, who said that he wasn't measuring up, and I think that George W. probably heard some of those voices. HEWITT: George Bush briefly tried politics himself but without success. Then, aged 31, he met Laura, a local librarian. JOE O'NEILL Friend George was really the only person in our circle of friends that was unmarried. Not that we tried to marry him off. It just seemed logical that this good looking girl that visits town for a few months ought to know George. So one night George came over - he was usually in bed by 9.30 - and he stays till midnight and he's smitten. Engaged in six weeks and married in three months. LAURA BUSH It was in a lot of ways like we'd known each other our whole lives because we'd grown up in the same town and we'd lived in Huston at the same time when we were just out of college and first in the working world. So I think it was really in a lot of ways like we'd known each other forever. HEWITT: By now George Bush, like his father, had set up an oil company based in Midland. It was a risky business, a gambler's life, and the oil men lived hard. ELLIS: I think George was somebody who drank too much but.. you know.. says did we all. I mean it was not unusual back in those days. HEWITT: George Bush's company would buy drilling rights and then look for oil. But the oil price remained stubbornly low and it was hard grind. His father's friends had to bail him out, even though he worked hard at being self-made. ROBERT McCLESKEY Bush Family Accountant George is aggressive. I mean he's an aggressive person and I mean that was his style, and he caught on quick. It didn't take him long to figure out the rules of the game how to play, what'll work and what won't. HEWITT: But George Bush was heading for failure when he was bought out by another company. By then his father was Vice President and the company saw advantage in being linked to the Bush family name. Life as an entrepreneur had not come easy. BILL MINUTAGLIO Bush Biographer One of his early ventures was, in fact, in danger of declaring bankruptcy. Shortly before that happened he merged it with another company. That company subsequently had such tangled finances that the Securities and Exchange Commission, which overseas corporations in America that are traded publicly, began investigating this particular company, so his oil companies have not been very profitable at all. HEWITT: To the Bush family George W. was still the eldest son who was failing to measure up, a man with problems. George W. Bush was spending too much times in the bars of this oil town, drinking heavily. Business was going badly. "I'm all name but no money" he complained at the time. In 1986 he and his wife Laura left for Colorado Springs to celebrate his 40th birthday with their closest friends. It was to be a weekend that would change his life. That night at the Broadmoor Hotel friends say George W. drank too much and woke with a pounding head. He vowed never to drink again. JOE O'NEILL Friend He woke up the next day, he said "Hey, why am I doing this?" and he just stopped and that's it. I always suspected that he had such love and affection for his dad that "Hey what happens if I do something to embarrass my father". JOHN ELLIS Cousin I think it was getting in the way of his life, it was getting in the way of his work, of his marriage, of his relationship with people, and I think he felt 'you know what? - it's in the way, and if it's in the way - it's out of the way'. O'NEILL: He saw a problem and just said that's it, and George is very disciplined that way. HEWITT: Around Midland there was another version of events, that Laura had offered him what they call the 'Texas choice' "Me or Jack Daniel's" but she tells the story differently. LAURA BUSH I think he realised that he needed to quit drinking and he just quit. And I'd love to take credit for it. I'll be glad to take credit for it but I didn't do it. He did it. HEWITT: At around the time he gave up drinking he began attending Bible study groups at this Midland Church. His wife says this was the pivotal time in his life. He became a born again Christian. This decision would enable him both personally and politically to draw a line under his past and would help him later to run for office. WEAD: It was dramatic in that it impacted his family, his marriage, his relationship with his children, his sense of who he was. HEWITT: Is he a born again Christian? DOUG WEAD Friend Yes, depending on the definition and the definition that most politicians use is the Gallup definition, the Gallup Poll asked the question "Are you a born again Christian, that is, have you had a turning point in your life in which you committed yourself to Jesus Christ?" and if you answer yes to that, they count you as a born again Christian and he would say yes to that. G.W BUSH: The Great State of Texas proudly cast 111 votes for her favourite son and the best father in America - George Bush. (Cheers and applause) HEWITT: In 1988 at a Republican convention he announced Texas' votes for his father who, by then, was running for President. G.W. BUSH: We love our dad and it means so much for us because it's important to him. HEWITT: George Bush joined the campaign team. He was known for being confrontational with anyone he thought was undermining his father's chances. At the moment of his father's greatest triumph, winning the White House and enjoying the trappings of power, G.W. was just over 40 and effectively unemployed. He agonised over his own future to the point of agreeing to have some research done by a White House aid on what had happened to the sons of previous presidents. HEWIT: What did he find? WEAD: Most depressing, high levels of suicide, higher than average levels of divorce, of alcoholism, of premature death which was coincidental. It seemed like these young people, men and women, children of presidents, so identified with their father, the presidential figure, that their whole life was wrapped up in him. And when George W. saw that he kind of groaned. HEWITT: Baseball was George W. Bush's real passion and he was approached to take over the Texas Rangers. Family connections had come to his help again. He borrowed money and became part owner. RANDY GALLOWAY Sports Writer I think he was set up for the job because they wanted the President's son to be a team owner and I didn't think that was right. HEWITT: You think he got it because of his name, that he was a Bush? GALLOWAY: Oh no doubt about that. HEWITT: He and Laura Bush were regulars at the ball games. The sports writers found the new owner aggressive with a thin skin when it came to criticism. GALLOWAY: To use a Texas term, George has a red ass. That means that he's going to snap on you immediately. He has a temper. It told you right away it was a direct confrontational style which I liked the heck out of. HEWITT: But even his critics found him engaging. He was a persuader who liked to take people by the arm, give them nicknames, and make things happen. What no one detected was any interest in politics. TOM GRIEVE Former Rangers Manager He loved baseball. He would.. I mean there was many times where he would come into my office just to talk about baseball, not the business, not our team, just baseball. And in those conversations it was very obvious how much he loved the game and at that time there was no doubt in my mind that he loved baseball way more than politics. HEWITT: He developed a plan to build a new stadium, and using all his skills persuaded the community to raise local taxes to pay for it, and he invited his father to pitch the first ball. With the team's fortunes improving he sold his shares and walked away with over $13 million. This deal made him financially secure and would later enable him to consider a future in politics. Then in 1992 his father was beaten by Bill Clinton. WEAD: It hurt. It definitely hurt because he loved his father. It's hard to describe the respect he had for his father. HEWITT: But do you think that sense of loss that the family had lost out influenced his decision to go into politics and become Governor of Texas? WEAD: Yes. Yes, I think it really propelled it. HEWITT: His father's defeat left George W. tearful and disgusted with politics. But it proved a liberation for him and his brother. LAURA: For the first time George and his brother Jeb were freed to run. It was the first time they had the opportunity in their whole lives to not have to think about how everything they said, or any political position they took would affect their father. ELLIS: Once his dad had been defeated it sort of freed him up to take advantage of the whole network, the whole Bush network. It could now give money to him. It didn't have to give all the money to President Bush.. Former President and so on and so forth. It enabled all of this incredible apparatus was now available to him. G.W. BUSH: Let's make it official. I'm a candidate for Governor of Texas. (Cheers and applause) HEWITT: Within weeks of his father's defeat George W. had taken steps to run for Governor. Few expected him to win against the incumbent, a popular woman and a democrat. Those who had come to know him while he was at the Texas Rangers were puzzled by this sudden move into politics. GALLOWAY: I said "George, you can't beat her. Why are you doing this?" And his answer was "I'm running against the other guy" meaning Bill Clinton. HEWITT: Did you also get the sense that this was getting back at the man who had after all beaten his father? GALLOWAY: No doubt about it. George W. is a guy that.. he did not forget what happened to big George and he never forgot that. HEWITT: Randy Galloway said it was like hearing a blood oath, such was George W. Bush's determination to restore the family name. It was the former baseball owner who ended up in the Governor's Mansion and began running Texas, the second largest state in America. Odessa is just a few miles from the place George W. Bush calls home. But it's the wrong side of the tracks. A poor, struggling neighbourhood beside a petrochemical plant. Critics say it's testament to his lack of concern about the environment. Every few weeks, usually at night and often without warning, there is a flaring when huge quantities of toxic chemicals are burnt off. One of the flarings was captured by an amateur cameraman. GENE COLLINS Environmental Activist I've seen the flame as high as a hundred feet when it was really burning off, and you'd see black smoke in billows, just rows of black smoke, and the noise would be like a freight train was getting ready to come through your living room. There'd be a lot of rattling and things like that. And especially young children to others who have health problems, to those who don't have any idea what's going on it's really frightening. HEWITT: Tests have detected high levels of benzene in the neighbourhood, a known carcinogen. Local people blame the plant for the many stories of ill health. Among them is 8 year old Vincent Gonzales who has to use an inhaler during the flarings. VINCENT GONZALEZ: I put it in the side of the machine and I breathe into it like this. I go... like every minute.. I mean every second like that I have to breathe into it and breathe out, and I get kind of scared of the plant whenever it's flaring. HEWITT: It is difficult to link the plant directly to poor health, but the community has an unusually high number of sick people. Among them Florence and Mr Dominguez. They are both permanently connected to an oxygen tank. FLORENCE DOMINGUEZ I heard that there's no cure for this thing, but I don't think so either because I haven't.. I never have gotten better. HEWITT: What do you think caused it? FLORENCE: I don't know. The pollution I guess. That's what I think because even my plants died over here. It burns them there and I never go outside no more because I'm afraid. HEWITT: As Governor, George Bush had the opportunity to enforce tougher environmental standards, but chose instead to allow these plants to largely regulate themselves. Texas now has the highest level of cancerous and toxic air emissions in America. Dr NEIL CARMAN Environmental Scientist The Governor had an opportunity to either protect public health or to protect business and economic health of these corporations that want to pollute, and I think that he really took the low road rather than the high road, and it's been a blessing though for business. Business has loved, I think, Governor Bush's leadership. HEWITT: Texas holds first place in something else - executions, 40 last year and 152 since George Bush became Governor. Among those on death row is Johnny Paul Penry, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a young woman. He can hardly read and write, has poor long-term memory and has been found to be mentally retarded. JOHNNY PAUL PENRY I don't remember anything, and I'm being truly truthful with you, anything about the crime itself. I wish like heck that I can remember but I can't. I am really terrified of them wanting to kill me, you know.. because I don't understand why I'm being put to death for. If I did understand, it wouldn't be so bad. But I think that Governor Bush, he is on a rampage. JOHN WRIGHT Penry's Lawyer Given the fact that he would probably, if given a life sentence, he would probably not ever be paroled because he simply is unable to learn from his mistakes and wouldn't have any place to go. Why is a genuine life sentence not sufficient punishment for him? HEWITT: The trend among States with people on DR - Death Row - is to prohibit the execution of those who are mentally retarded. But George Bush has actively resisted such moves in Texas. One case above all others tested his commitment to the death penalty. Carla Faye Tucker had been sentenced to death for a gruesome double murder. She had admitted her guilt but in prison had become a born again Christian like George Bush himself. In 1998 religious groups and religious leaders, including the Pope, pleaded with him to delay her execution. DOUG WEAD Friend I urged him to give her the extra 30 days. As Governor he could not pardon her, the laws are very strict, but he could have given a delay. I think it's 30 or 60 days. It would have allowed for even more appeals and I urged him to do that. HEWITT: And what did he say to you? WEAD: He said "You're not going to like my answer but I'm not going to do that". HEWITT: When George Bush talked to his friends about the death penalty he cited a letter he received here at the Governor's Mansion. It was from a man who described lying on the floor with a young kid sticking a gun in his face. "Young man.." he said ".. if you shoot me you'll be executed here in the State of Texas." The kid hesitated. Later the man wrote to Governor Bush thanking him for sticking to his policy and saving his life. So there would be no exception for Carla Faye Tucker. G.W. BUSH: I have sought guidance through prayer. I have concluded judgments about the heart and soul of an individual on Death Row are best left to a higher authority. Carla Faye Tucker has acknowledged she is guilty of a horrible crime. May God bless Carla Faye Tucker and God bless her victims and their families. CLAY JOHNSON Bush Appointments Secretary Then he went back to his office and a few of us were there and our General Counsel's office keeps an open phone line to an attorney in the room where the execution is carried out. He reports what is taking place. She's being brought in, the needles are being injected and so forth. It was him doing the right thing. It would have been so easy to disregard what the law was, disregard what his constitutional responsibility was and do the thing that would have made it easier for him to live with, or perhaps easier more politically beneficial to him, but that was not the decision he made. HEWITT: It's been reported that George Bush gave on average 15 minutes to reviewing each death penalty case. He is a politician who rarely reflects on his decisions. MARK MacKINNON Campaign Advisor On a number of occasions it's really.. it's amazed me the extent to which once he commits to a decision he never looks back. There's no recriminations, there's no second thoughts, there's no doubting. When he commits he goes. HEWITT: Even with something sensitive like he had to handle over Death Row for instance? MacKINNON: Yes. HEWITT: His working day at the Governor's Mansion was short and it usually included a three mile run. He believed in appointing the right people and allowing them to get on with it. He rarely read detailed policy papers, preferring instead verbal briefings. KAREN HUGHES Bush Communications Director I've seen a lot of people come in with the big thick briefing books and they sit them on the table and try and open them up and flip through and read him the pages. You know.. Chart number 1 says.... Chart number 2 shows... And usually about 3 pages into this the Governor will say "Can I stop you a minute. Let me let you close the book and you tell me what you think is the most important thing I need to know to make this decision." HEWITT: Some of those in the legislature who worked with him during his six years as Governor felt he lacked depth, the commitment to reach an informed decision. ELLIOTT NAISHTAT: He doesn't read books and he doesn't read magazines except sports magazines. In that sense he's not intellectually curious, he never has been, he admits this. But more importantly he seems oblivious to a lot of issues. HEWITT: Yet George Bush was politically successful. Even his opponents liked him. He was adept at finding consensus, reaching out across the political divide. He relied heavily on a backslapping, playful, intensely personal approach. ELLIOTT NAISHTAT Texas Democrat I was walking out of the capital of Texas and all of a sudden I was in a headlock, a wrestling headlock, and I looked up and it was Governor George Bush, and he was pulling me down the south steps of the Texas capital in a friendly way but he had his arms around my neck and he said "Elliot, we've been having some problems in coming up with some compromised language on my welfare proposals which are in your committee. I need you to work with me. This is important to me." This is his style, slapping you on the back, getting you in a headlock, rubbing your head. HEWITT: In 1998 he was easily re-elected. The Republican Party began to eye him as a winner and he also had going for him the Bush name. JOHN ELLIS Cousin What it gives George is an enormous advantage going in. It gives him a hundred percent name recognition; it gives him a huge network of financial supporters; it gives him a huge network of political supporters; it gives him a huge reservoir of goodwill from people who don't even know him because they assume because his father's a good guy that he's a good guy. DAVID GERGEN Former White House Advisor If he were not a Bush he would not be President today, so if his name had been Smith and he'd been Governor of Texas he would have been a nice candidate for Vice President but I don't think he'd be President. HEWITT: One potential obstacle to becoming a presidential candidate was his past, and the rumours that he had used drugs, including cocaine. ELLIS: I've never thought of George as a drug guy. I was amazed when this all came up. I mean I know a lot of people who did drugs and stuff and George has just never struck me as the type. He always struck me as kind of a Jack Daniels kind of guy. WEAD: I think that consumed him and ate at him for a long time. It would have been the reason he wouldn't have run for President. HEWITT: You say it consumed him, it was something that he was really concerned about? WEAD: Yes, I believe so. HEWITT: Did he ever talk to you about it? WEAD: Yes. HEWITT: What kinds of things did he say about it? WEAD: Well, it literally made him sick to his stomach that journalists would continually pursue rumours they would hear. HEWITT: What he did do before finally deciding to run for President was to hold a series of private meetings with pastors in Texas to get their support. Dr TONY EVANS: I've prayed with him on numbers of occasions about his decision to run for President. He wanted to sense that this was something God wanted him to do and not merely something that he wanted to do. He wanted a sense of divine endorsement. HEWITT: Would you lay your hands on him? Dr TONY EVANS Pastor Oh there have been occasions when we laid our hands on him and there have been occasions when we prayed over the phone. So there have been a variety of scenarios where those prayers have occurred. HEWITT: So George W. Bush decided to run for President supported by conservative Christians who believed he shared their agenda, and moderate Republicans who saw him as a winner. The big question that hung over his campaign was competence. The doubts were sewn early when a reporter asked him to name the leaders of four countries, all potential trouble spots. The first was Pakistan. Q: Can you name him? G.W. BUSH: General. I can name the general. Q: What is his name? G.W. BUSH: General. Q: And the Prime Minister of India? G.W. BUSH: Ahhh.. the new Prime Minister of India is ahhh.. No. ROBERT McCLESKEY Bush Family Accountant Do not, under any circumstance, underestimate my friend George W. Bush because I've always found him to be.. you know.. I've always thought he was one of the smarter people I know, and my dealings with him that he could bounce a lot of balls in the air at one time, that he could have a lot of things going on and be on top of all of them. G.W. BUSH: A major.. a US daily's story about subliminal messages. HEWITT: And it said he gets his words wrong, he makes gaffs, he mangles his sentences. McCLESKEY: Oh well we all do that out here. G.W. BUSH: I don't think we need to be subliminal... DAVID GERGEN Former White House Advisor I think he's intellectually able. Whether he is intellectually curious is a different matter. I think that is a big question that hangs over the incoming administration. HEWITT: Does he have the intellectual curiosity to be an effective president? JAMES BAKER Family Friend He did a pretty darned good job at Yale University, one of our finest schools; a pretty darned good job at Harvard Business School; an excellent job succeeding in private business before he got into politics. And the answer to your question is absolutely he has the intellectual capacity and suggestions to the contrary, in my view at least, are a bum rap. HEWITT: The election turned on the debates. It was expected that George Bush would be shown up by the more experienced Al Gore. G.W. BUSH: I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. HEWITT: But he stuck to his message and came across as not necessarily the brighter man but the warmer man. G.W. BUSH: He's trying to allege that I'm a heard hearted person and I don't care about children. He's absolutely wrong. (Applause) MARK MacKINNON Campaign Advisor He wanted a sense of public perception. People thought he won the debates and they saw him and they liked him and I think that.. I also believe that there was a threshold question. I think that people wanted to like George W. Bush but they wanted to see him on the big stage and see if he could handle it. HEWITT: On election night George W. Bush stood in the hallway of his mansion going over his acceptance speech, but it was a night like no other, emotion shifting by the hour, the highs and lows shared with his parents. But as the night wore on it became apparent that all depended on Florida, his brother's state, and that George Bush, like America, would have to wait to find out whether he was going to the White House. The best guide as to how George W. Bush will act under pressure came during the five weeks when the election was disputed. He decided not to remain here in his official residence overseeing the crisis. Instead he appointed people to fight for his corner while he took off to his ranch, a place that didn't even have TV. To some, at this the most critical moment in his life, he seemed almost disengaged. Most of the time was spent clearing brush. It's how he likes to work, delegate and then pull back. Those who visited him found a man supremely relaxed about his own future whatever the outcome. JOHN DICKERSON 'Time' Magazine When I arrived you would have thought it was any other weekend, that the Presidency didn't hang in the balance, that he hadn't been waiting out three weeks of court challenges and legal challenges and speculation and spin. You would have thought he'd been on a month long vacation. It was only after about 2 hours that he said.. "You know.. I don't give a damn about the Supreme Court here" and then he paused and he said "Well of course I do, but here it all just melts away". The President Elect of the United States, the Honourable George W. Bush. (Cheers) HEWITT: With a little help from the conservative majority on the Supreme Court George Bush won, but many still question his legitimacy believing he stole the election. DAVID GERGEN Former White House Advisor There's no question that George W. Bush comes in under a cloud and that it's not crippling but it is difficult for him. It's going to be more difficult for him to govern. HEWITT: George W. Bush is now the 43rd President. He is much closer to the Christian Right than his father. He is anti-abortion but that's not where his initial energies will be directed. His priority will be tax cuts and, in his words, "Building defences beyond challenge" and that is where Britain comes in because the new President wants to build 'The Son of Star Wars' a system designed to intercept missiles hitting America. It will rely on tracking faculties in Britain without necessarily protecting British citizens. JAMES BAKER Former Secretary of State I think it's very important to Republicans generally and I think it's one of the issues on which George W. Bush campaigned. It's going to be a very difficult and sensitive issue to implement but I think this administration is committed to it. I think that bringing Britain on board would be extraordinarily important. HEWITT: His plans will test the special relationship. This weekend, as thousands of Texans and conservative Americans converged on the capital, this was all about celebration. Their new President is used to seeing his easy charm win friends and change minds. That might not be so easy amidst Washington's dog-eat-dog politics. His style will be different too. America has a delegator in charge, a man uninterested in detail who will trust his instincts to settle the big question. ELLIOTT NAISHTAT Texas Democrat I think George Bush is going to be unique in that he will be not as engaged as presidents have been. I think he will be popular because he's charming and personable, but I don't think he's going to be the type of president who is hands on, who gets directly and intimately involved. BAKER: He prefers the big picture but so did another extraordinarily successful President that I worked for, for two terms, Ronald Reagan. When he came into power everybody was deriding him as being an actor who didn't have the necessary intellectual skills to be President. I'd say phooey to that. Phooey to those same comments where George W. Bush is concerned. G.W. BUSH: But before we start to work there's some dancing to be done. HEWITT: This is a dynasty in the making. Many of his father's friends have been brought into the White House and each day George W. emails George senior. For all his confidence there is an unfinished quality to the man many regard as 'the Accidental President'. _________ www.bbc.co.uk/panorama CREDITS Reporter Gavin Hewitt Film Camera Eugene McVeigh Jonathan Young Sound Recordists Eamon McKenna Jon Gilbert Dubbing Mixer Stewart Harper VT Editor Rod Hutson Graphic Design Kaye Huddy Julie Tritton Film Research Eamonn Walsh Archive WGBH Boston 'Frontline' George Bush Presidential Library Khou II Houston KVUE 24 Austin NBC 'Meet the Press' WFAA 8 Dallas Brooks Kraft Production Team Jessica Kenny Leanne Ward Laurence Coss Mike Smith Production Manager Yolanda Ayres Unit Manager Maria Ellis Film Editors Bernard Lyall Chris Woolley Mark Mockett Assistant Producer Judith Ahern Associate Producers Andrew Bell Eamon Hardy Sanjay Singhal Producer Barbara Want Deputy Editors Clive Edwards Karen O'Connor 7 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Transcribed by 1-Stop Express Services, London W2 1JG Tel: 0207 724 7953 E-mail 1-stop@msn.com