Bush Gears up for November: his father disliked 'the vision thing,' but this President Bush is counting on big ideas to win re-election.

• Author: Bumiller, Elisabeth
• Position: National

During a moment of irritation in the 1988 campaign, the Republican presidential candidate, Vice President George H.W. Bush, derided "the vision thing," as he called it, describing a leader's ability to set inspiring national goals. The first President Bush went on to become a one-term President with little taste for big schemes.

But 16 years later, as the second President Bush sets in motion his re election campaign, he is embracing not only "the vision thing" but the idea of a very big presidency: big ideas, big costs, big gambles. More than many Presidents, historians say, Bush seems to understand how to use the powers of the office and to see the potential political benefits in taking chances.

Since the New Year, Bush has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. He announced plans for establishing a base on the moon and sending humans to Mars. Those proposals come on the heels of a $400 billion prescription-drag benefit for senior citizens that Bush pushed through Congress. And then there is perhaps the most dramatic big vision of the Bush presidency: the U.S. led effort to bring democracy to Iraq.

"Winston Churchill always said that government should not be engaged in small endeavors," says David R. Gergen, who has worked in four previous White Houses. "It had to be engaged in large endeavors to stir the public's imagination. And Bush gets that, whether by instinct or by reading."

Few doubt that the President's embrace of big ideas is genuine, but the timing of his recent bold proposals also serves a political purpose. With the 2004 presidential race starting, this is magic-show time in Washington: the season when a sitting President can use the powers of his office to lay the groundwork for his re-election campaign.

VOLUNTEERS WITH PALMTOPS

On January 20, Bush used his annual State of the Union address, with its national television audience, to hold him self out as the candidate best able to protect the nation in a post-September 11 world. That strategy, say members of both political parties, could well win Bush a second term. Historically, Americans have never voted a President out of office during the middle of a war.

Presidential aides say that Bush is wholly absorbed by the race, talking daily with Karl Rove, his chief political advisor. By March, when the Democrats may have settled on a nominee, Bush will probably have reached his fund-raising goal of $170 million. His campaign will then become more active.

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