Interview With Dieter Kronzucker of ZDF
Television of the
Q.
Mr. President when you have been last year in
The President. That could very well
enter the conversation. I've made no secret about my feeling about that, and,
yes, I'd be very happy to speak to him about it.
East-West
Relations
Q.
Do you think German reunification could be taking place somewhere along the
line in the East-West dialog?
The President. Well, couldn't that
grow from such things as I also suggested? In addition to tearing down the
wall, and without going so far as to offer an opinion about reunification, I
said that couldn't Berlin then become a city in which maybe some things -- for
example, Olympics games, meetings, international meetings and so forth -- could
take place, and also a change in the whole aerial position, aircraft position
so that Berlin could once again become a hub for international air traffic. And
then maybe, from all of those things, reunification could grow.
Q.
Is the summit in
The President. Well, we have achieved
some results with them, because mainly we have talked about regionalism, things
like
Administration
Goals
Q.
Mr. President, you have another 9 months -- your Presidency. What is the
problem number one in
The President. Well, there are a
number of things in which we've made progress that I would like to see us speed
up the progress. Economically, for example, we're on the path now toward
returning to the balanced budget idea. For almost 60 years, the opposition
party has been, in the main, in control and has practiced a policy of budget
deficits. We at least now -- the argument about whether you should or should
not deficit spend has changed to where, for these last 7 years, it is only a
case of, well, how fast do you restore the balance, and how do you -- what
methods do you use to restore a balanced budget? So, we've made a gain there. I
would like to see us act faster with that -- some modernization of our
budgeting process that I think is very lacking right now.
Then,
we have one spending area in which there is controversy. And that is when I
took office, on any given day, half of our military aircraft couldn't fly for
lack of spare parts. Half of our naval vessels couldn't leave port for the same
reason or for lack of crew. And I said that, even with my intent to try and
eliminate the deficit, if it was a choice between eliminating the deficit or
rebuilding and refurbishing our national security I would have to choose the
national security. And we did. We made great progress. Only in this last year
or so, that now that -- again, the opposition party has a majority in both
houses of our legislature. They have forced reductions in defense spending on
us that I think are very detrimental and are going to remove some of the
advantage that we have gained, and I would hope that we could change and
continue to restore and reach our defense targets. I think that peace comes
through strength.
There
are some other things of that kind, some changes -- we as you know, a unique thing about our country, we are a federation
of sovereign States. And a great deal of authority has been left in the hands
of local government and the State governments. Clear back when Franklin Delano
Roosevelt ran for election, his promise was to restore the authority and
autonomy to those local levels of government that had been unjustly seized, as
he put it, by the Federal Government. Well, things didn't get better over the
years, but we have embarked on a program of restoring that Federal balance,
restoring the sovereignty of the States. And we've made progress in it, just as
we've made great progress in improving the business management of government.
We estimate that in these few years, we have reduced the amount of paperwork
imposed on our citizens, on our businesses, and on our local levels of government
by 600 million man-hours of work a year. And I would like to see this continue.
There are some social reforms I would like to see also.
Views
on the Presidency
Q.
And do you still enjoy to be President -- looking
forward to?
The President. Well, maybe people are
surprised to hear this, but yes, I do enjoy it. I was out there as a citizen
making speeches and arguing about things and campaigning for individuals for
government posts and so forth, and then to -- I never expected this -- but to
find myself in a position where I can actually deal with the problems is very
exciting, indeed.
Q.
If you look back at the last 7 years, that it's mainly the accomplishments you
like to remember, or is there some failure you would say, I wouldn't repeat it
again -- remembering, for example, your visit in Bitburg,
'85, in the war cemetery in
The President. Not
at all. Not at all. I thought that it was very
worthwhile, and I came home with a message also for our own people: that I
think the courage of your country in maintaining those evidences of the horror
of the Holocaust and bringing your own young people in to see them so that this
can never happen again -- I think is something that you have every reason to be
proud of.
The
First Lady
Q.
Mr. President, a last question. A President of the
The President. Yes.
Q.
Is it that your wife is your main adviser?
The President. [Laughter] No, and
she's very embarrassed about the press stories that for some reason continue to
say that. No, she has been a good and faithful wife, and I share secrets with
her and my problems and all of that. But, no, I'm surrounded by people that I
have appointed to the Cabinet positions and all. And I have made it very plain
from the first that I want to hear from them their views on these problems.
Even if they differ with what my own might be, I want
to hear that from them. And one thing I do not want to hear. I do not want to
hear the political ramifications on any problem, whether it is good politically
to do something. All I want from them is their opinion as to whether is it good or bad for the people of this country. And then I
will make the decision, having heard them out.
Note: The interview
began at