POLITICS President highlights his agenda

Bush became the first presidential candidate to win a majority of the popular vote since 1988.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A minority president no more, President Bush sketched a second term agenda today that includes a tax overhaul and major changes in Social Security so workers can own their own retirement accounts.
At a news conference two days after winning his second term, Bush also said his administration would "achieve our objectives" in Iraq. He said that meant Iraqi "elections on the path to stability."
No word on changes
Bush sidestepped questions about changes in his Cabinet and potential vacancies in the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice William Rehnquist recently disclosed he was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer.
"I haven't made any decisions on the Cabinet yet," Bush said. Changes are widely expected, possibly at the Justice Department, the State Department and elsewhere.
As for the nation's highest court, he said, "There's no vacancy for the Supreme Court and I will deal with a vacancy when there is one."
Bush fielded questions after securing re-election in a campaign framed by the war in Iraq and economic issues at home. Nearly complete returns gave him 51 percent of the popular vote -- a contrast to 2000, when he lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.
For the second straight day, he pledged to reach out to those who opposed his re-election.
Earlier in the day, Bush took congratulatory calls from the presidents of Iraq, Afghanistan, Poland and Russia and the prime ministers of Israel and Italy, and convened a meeting of his Cabinet.
The president told the Cabinet, "We've still got work to do."
"We're here for a reason," the president said. "It is a privilege to sit around this table."
Bush also invited campaign workers to the White House for a thank-you celebration.
His second term secured, Bush asked the 55 million people who voted to oust him from office to get behind him.
Goals
In a jubilant victory speech Wednesday that came 21 hours after the polls closed, Bush outlined the goals he plans to start work on immediately and pursue in the next four years, a period he termed "a season of hope."
He pledged to keep up the fight against terrorism, press for stable democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, simplify the tax code, allow younger workers to invest some of their Social Security withholdings in the stock market, continue to raise accountability standards in public schools and "uphold our deepest values and family and faith."
Other items include reforms to the nation's intelligence community, halving the record $413 billion deficit, expanding health care coverage, a constitutional ban on gay marriage and moving "this goodhearted nation toward a culture of life."
"Reaching these goals will require the broad support of Americans," Bush said as he asked Sen. John Kerry's disappointed supporters to back him -- even though many of his proposals are anathema to those who opposed his re-election.
"I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust," he said. "When we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."
Bush also has pledged a full-court press with Congress, where a continued GOP lock on both houses makes getting his wishes granted easier, but not guaranteed for a lame-duck president.
The disputed 2000 election left Bush without a mandate, but he governed as if he had one. The White House made clear Wednesday that it believes that mandate did not elude Bush this time, when he became the first presidential candidate since 1988 to win a majority of the popular vote, 51 percent.
Even before the election, aides started work on a new budget, and the administration is preparing to ask Congress for up to $75 billion more to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and operations against terrorism. The figure indicates the wars' costs, particularly to battle the intensified Iraqi insurgency, are far exceeding expectations laid out early this year.