The First 100 Days

If anything suggests the sense that Bush is less box-office than Clinton, it may be Newsweek. The news magazines have long been considered a bellwether of conventional wisdom. They even now parody themselves with conventional wisdom watch items.

Eight years ago, four of the eight covers following the inauguration dealt with the Clinton Administration—and a fifth dealt with one of its byproducts, the power of talk radio.

For Bush, only one cover was related to the president—a story on tax cuts in which a photograph of Bush manipulated to resemble a game show host is handing freshly minted greenbacks over to the reader under the headline "Tax Cuts & You: Bush's $1.6 Trillion Gamble."

Before the inauguration, there was one other—a picture of then-attorney general designate John Ashcroft wearing a devilish expression under the title "Holy War: Bush's Washington—Is the Fight Over John Ashcroft a Taste of Things to Come?"

Clinton in contrast, raised a host of issues for the newsweekly, from "Show Time," with a smiling Clinton and a story about his agenda, "Gays in the Military: How Far Will Clinton Go?", "Hillary's Role: How Much Clout? Exclusive The First Lady Speaks Out on the Issues," and "Tax, Spend Cut," with Clinton underneath.

Indeed, even in 2001 Bush had to share the spotlight with the irrepressible Clinton, who midway through Bush's first two months generated yet another cover for himself, "Exclusive—Sleepless Nights & Secret Pardons: The Inside Story of Bill's Last Days," overlaid against a grainy black and white shot of a staring, half shadowed Clinton.

One interesting feature is that Newsweek was fascinated with the mystery over who would be the president. Six of its seven covers between the issues of November 6 and December 18—the period in which the election was still being contested—concerned that post-election fight.

Bush did earn one other Newsweek cover, the year-end cover produced to compete with Time's Person of The Year, who was, coincidentally, Bush.