American Morning

And President Bush meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder today. And earlier in the week, it was with the French president, Jacques Chirac. And so far on this trip, there has been both real agreement and agreement to disagree. But tomorrow the president meets with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Could that be the biggest meeting of this entire trip?

Democratic consultant Victor Kamber is with us this morning.

Vic, good morning to you.

VICTOR KAMBER, CARMEN COMMUNICATIONS, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning.

HEMMER: Former RNC Communications Director Cliff May also back in D.C.

Cliff, good morning to you, as well.

CLIFFORD MAY, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Good morning. HEMMER: Guys, I don’t get it. You know, you’re reading through all these articles about the trip in Europe so far. The head of NATO says it was an excellent summit among 26 countries. The head of the E.U. says Europe and America have reconnected.

Is it that simple, Victor?

KAMBER: Well, I think the fence mending that’s taking place is positive. I think that the animosities that had built, the lack of the kind of foreign policy that the president engaged in in the first four years left many people scratching their heads. I think this reach out by the president — and I’m not sure he’s apologizing, but just the fact he’s reaching out, he’s connecting, he’s talking, he’s asking for help, he’s sharing ideas, I think has to be a positive.

HEMMER: But did you expect Jacques Chirac to say, and I will quote him now, “America is more realistic, it is progress.” That’s from the French.

What happened in 2003 and 2004 and the disagreements there?

Cliff? MAY: I’ll tell you what happened. And what happened was the end of January, something we debated on this show many times, you had elections that took place in Iraq. And the Europeans thought oh, this is going to be a lot of silliness. And then they saw what everybody else in the world saw — brave Iraqis by the millions coming out and risking their lives to vote, putting their hand in the ink and saying I don’t care if the terrorists know, I wanted to vote today. I think that had an impact psychologically.

I also think the Europeans realize Bush is going to be here for four more years, we’ve got to work with him.

So I think for all those reasons, he did not apologize. He said look, we want to build freedom and spread freedom and we want your help to do it. Is that so much to ask?

The Europeans kind of think that’s wildly idealistic. On the other hand, they may be willing to help a little bit, at least train judges and cops.

HEMMER: You mentioned Iraq in there. Let’s talk about Iran.

Here’s what the president said when asked about it yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Some say he was double speaking there, Victor. But his point is that Iraq had a 10-year track record of political negotiations and with Iran it’s just getting started. Is this being handled the way that you expected?

KAMBER: Well, I hope it is. I mean, again, we don’t know what’s going on in private sessions. But if that’s the statement he made, that’s what the world wants to hear, is that we’re not about to go open up another front, go to war, or if we are, we’re not about to do it without the backing of the rest of the world.

I think his reach out to Germany, to France, to the rest of the world, is, as we move forward, to bring democracy to this world, we want to do it hand in hand with our partners. MAY: Here’s the secret. In terms of Iran, you’ve got to play good cop/bad cop. While the Europeans are in there negotiating with the Iranians, they’ve got to say those crazy Americans, I don’t know what they might do, so let’s see if we can come to some terms here.

HEMMER: Let’s talk about Russia tomorrow.

Cliff, you think this is the most critical meeting to date.

Why? MAY: A lot of reasons. The most important is this, is Vladimir Putin, the president, says he doesn’t think the Iranian mullahs are trying to build nuclear weapons. So he’s going to give them the technology and the fuel to build nuclear weapons. That is something that is just terrible for us, for the world —

HEMMER: But do you think Vladimir Putin will concede to the American wishes? MAY: I have no idea. Putin, everything Putin is doing is very, it seems to me, to be very dangerous. He’s retreated from democracy in terms of the press in Russia that he’s now shackled, the judiciary. Russia is going backwards. And he is trying to reestablish the kind of relationships that the old Soviet Union used to have in places like Syria. He’s selling them anti-aircraft missiles. He’s doing a lot over very bad things. And I think that Bush needs to have a very tough conversation with him.

HEMMER: Victor, you remember the comments that came out of Crawford, Texas when the president said he saw into his soul, meaning Vladimir Putin.

KAMBER: And he saw into his eyes and saw his heart and he believes him to be a man of integrity and honor. I have no idea what’s changed. Maybe he’s wearing contacts and his eye colors have changed. I have no idea what’s going on. Obviously the president has a responsibility to call President Putin on those issues where there’s strong disagreement. We shouldn’t, however, again, open up another front on our own. We should challenge Russia where we think that there is going to be problems that will not help world peace, but I think we should look more for our mutual solutions to problems, not look to create another front out there.

HEMMER: Vladimir Putin, that meeting happens tomorrow, on Thursday.

Thank you, gentlemen.

We’ll speak again.

Nice to see you both.

KAMBER: Thank you MAY: Thanks.