By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 21, 2001 ; Page A01
Few men have come to the White House under such contentious circumstances as George W. Bush, and in his inaugural address yesterday, the 43rd president began the difficult job of trying to unite a divided nation.
Like other presidents, Bush has arrived in Washington with a campaign agenda that he is determined to enact. But his eloquent speech focused primarily on the overriding reality that confronts him, which is the need to provide reassurance to, and find common ground with, his opponents if his presidency is to succeed.
In his address, Bush gave voice to sentiments shared by Americans on both sides of one of the closest elections in history and then the bitter post-election struggle in Florida. "Sometimes," he said, "our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country."
The new president was quick to add that the country should not accept and would not allow those conditions to persist untreated. He challenged elected officials and ordinary citizens alike to take up the responsibility of helping to bring the country together, and for himself, Bush offered "my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity."
That will obviously take more than a single speech, more than mere words, more even than a single presidency. The divisions that were evident on Election Day have not begun to disappear in the subsequent 10 weeks. For some, particularly African Americans, the sense of grievance may have deepened as a result of the post-election battle in Florida.
But yesterday was a beginning as Bush called on the country to live by a set of ideals that he believes will make progress on the public agenda possible: civility, courage, compassion and character.
"America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility," he said. "A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness."
From the West Front of the Capitol, Bush displayed some of the traits he hopes will make it possible for him to succeed, characteristics evident through his long campaign for the White House: self-confidence, discipline and a sense of humility about the presidency.
For at least part of the transition, said both Republicans and Democrats in recent weeks, Bush appeared tentative and uncertain in projecting himself as president-elect. Yesterday his voice was strong, his delivery assured, his growing comfort about his new office seemingly apparent.
The discipline was evident not only in the conciseness of the speech, a trim 14 minutes, but also in the relentless focus on the themes that guided him as a candidate and the tight issue agenda he hopes to begin pushing early next week.
The speech itself also reflected Bush's conservative view of government as well as what his religious convictions tell him is required of all citizens as individuals. "Where there is suffering, there is duty," he said at one point. At another he said, "Compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government."
Overcoming the political and cultural divisions within the country would test any president, but particularly one who came to the White House the way Bush did. He is only the fourth president to lose the popular vote, and his electoral-vote margin is the third narrowest in history. To many of his opponents, the legitimacy of his victory -- decided by a divided U.S. Supreme Court -- remains in question. History would suggest he faces a rocky four years.
Beyond that is the divided government over which he now presides. He is the first Republican president in half a century to have a House and Senate in the hands of his own party, but his command and control of the government is as much illusory as real. With the Senate divided 50-50 and Republicans holding just a nine-seat majority in the House, Bush will need help from his opponents to govern.
From the beginning of his campaign, Bush pledged to try to change the tone of Washington and govern in a bipartisan fashion, citing his record in Texas as evidence of his commitment. But the unique circumstances of the election have brought to him an additional burden, which is to use the presidency to bring peaceful coexistence to Washington and the country at large.
Bush advisers had said before the speech that he fully understands what he faces as president, and a portion of the address appeared aimed directly at those who voted for former vice president Al Gore in November.
He said the grandest of American ideals is "that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born." He spoke, too, of the cost of "failing schools and hidden prejudices" on many Americans and of the fact that although "many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise -- even the justice -- of our own country."
Nowhere in Bush's speech was there the suggestion that he would back away from his conservative agenda. In an address otherwise lofty in tone, Bush managed one paragraph that crisply reaffirmed the issues on which he campaigned. He called for cutting taxes -- which drew the biggest applause of the day -- improving the schools, reforming Social Security and Medicare, rebuilding the military and even a thinly disguised appeal for his controversial missile defense system.
What he suggested yesterday was that politicians with different agendas and ideologies can come together if they approach it in the right spirit. "Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment," he said. "It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment."
It is that clash between his style of governing and his agenda for government where doubts persist, particularly among Democrats. They have heard his calls for changing the tone and believe his nomination of former senator John D. Ashcroft to be attorney general contradicts that pledge. They have seen little to date to suggest that the circumstances of his victory have altered his course on policy.
Some Democrats, having studied the presidencies of other men who lost the popular vote and served but a single term -- John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes and Benjamin Harrison -- believe Bush faces an unhappy four years. But some scholars say there is nothing that requires history to repeat itself.
"A close election or a less-than-decisive majority is not necessarily a prescription for subsequent failure or defeat," historian Robert Dallek said. "But there's a kind of political crisis we passed through. A crisis is also an opportunity. This now tests Bush's political mettle. Is he up to the task?"
Political scientist Charles O. Jones said by his reckoning, Bush has made the most of the difficult situation in which he finds himself, both in forming a government and beginning to prepare an agenda. "He leads from what he said during the campaign," Jones said. "But he's got to determine how and when to work with the Democrats and modify or amend" his program.
It remains Bush's challenge to show that civility can overcome the partisan divisions that long have governed politics in Washington. His father asked for harmony and compromise in his inaugural address 12 years ago but quickly saw his presidency engulfed in the flames of partisanship. Eight years ago Bill Clinton asked for an end to the "intrigue and calculation" that marred Washington's ability to work for ordinary people. His two terms saw an escalation of the partisan strife.
Now it is the time of George W. Bush, bearing special burdens and bright expectations. The tone he set yesterday was hopeful and constructive, an effort to provide the fresh start he talked about so often in the campaign. The real test of his leadership will come as he attempts to make good on the promise of his words.
