Every man and woman who has lost their job in recent years can personally blame the Democratic leaders of Congress, retiring White House Chief of Staff John Sununu told Republican governors meeting in Salt Lake Monday.
Sununu said that House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., and Sen. Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, "tuck it to America first" every chance they get.Defending President Bush's domestic agenda vehemently, Sununu said that there have been specific Republican proposals on economic growth, education, transportation, the environment - most of which all had the votes to pass if Foley and Mitchell had not kept the legislation from the floor of the House and Senate.
Foley and Mitchell "take pleasure in a weak economy and loss of jobs," Sununu said.It was tough language, and the embattled chief of staff, who leaves office this Sunday, was clearly stating a campaign theme of Bush's re-election - attack the Democratic leadership in Congress.
Sununu and a number of Bush Cabinet officers are addressing the annual convention of the Republican Governors Association, meeting in the Little America Hotel this week. Twelve governors and a governor-elect are attending the sessions, hosted by Utah Gov. Norm Bangerter.
Sunday afternoon, after a weekend of sightseeing, skiing and shopping, several of the governors held a press conference, during which South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, association chairman, said Republican governors are leading the way in solving state problems.
"It's a challenge to be a governor today," Campbell said. "We must figure out new and more efficient ways of doing things. The buck now stops at the statehouse door. The tide of federalism in the last few years is turning away from Washington to the states."
Sununu said that the world is changing drastically with the triumph of Western values. "We only halfheartedly joke that there are only two places where socialism is still believed - Havana, Cuba and in the Democratic Congress. We hope they both get the faith as well."