Kansas City, Mo — Quentin Edwards, age 3, eyeballed George W. Bush and popped the question.
"What do you do?"
Lee Mitchell, 90, of Kansas City, Mo., counts herself among those who now have heard President Bush's pitch for his tax-cut plan. Mitchell had her picture taken with President Bush during Mitchell's birthday celebration Monday at The First Watch Restaurant in North Kansas City, Mo. Bush was in Kansas City to rally support for his proposed tax cut.
Bush stared back at his young inquisitor sitting in a booth at The First Watch restaurant in North Kansas City, then grinned.
"I'm the president of the United States," he responded.
Young Quentin laughed and clapped his hands at the answer. Moving on from Quentin's table, Bush chuckled, "The man's on my team now."
That would be Bush's tax-cutting team.
Focusing on the chief objective of his first weeks in office, Bush spent three hours Monday in the Kansas City area building support for his across-the-board, $1.6 trillion tax-cut plan.
The reduction, the president said, would create jobs and would help small businesses, such as Bajan Industries, a greeting-card maker on Manchester Trafficway that he visited Monday.
"The role of government is not to create wealth, but to provide an environment for entrepreneurs to flourish," Bush said in his 25-minute address at Bajan.
The cut also will put more money into the hands of families all across the country, he said. At Bajan, Bush pointed to Quentin's family, who made the trip from North Kansas City to be seated near a presidential lectern surrounded by cardboard shipping boxes.
The Edwardses, who brought two children to the event, would see their federal tax bill drop from $1,750 to zero, the president said. Robert Edwards, who blushed when Bush mentioned his name, is a manager at a Bob Evans Restaurant in Merriam, Kan. His wife, Jennifer, works at a real-estate office.
"This is important for our economy," Bush said. "It's important for ... hard-working families across America."
Bush has made the same points at other speeches around the country. The one surprise during his Kansas City stay was the unscheduled stop at First Watch that stunned customers and left many smiling broadly. Customers did not know the president would be visiting until about 30 minutes before Bush's motorcade roared up outside on Armour Road.
Bush worked the room for 20 minutes, gripping and grinning the entire way. At one point, he bottle-fed an infant. At another, he trekked back to the kitchen to greet cooks and waiters.
He also seemed delighted to meet Lee Mitchell of Kansas City, who was celebrating her 90th birthday Monday. Embracing her, Bush turned to the press contingent jammed near the restaurant's main entryway and gushed, "Ninetieth birthday!"
The picture Mitchell took with Bush soon will appear alongside a similar treasure: a long-ago photo of Mitchell standing with Eleanor Roosevelt.
"I'll cherish it," Mitchell said of the Bush photograph.
In his speech at Bajan, Bush said it was important to push past criticism that his tax-cut plan benefits only the rich, as Democrats have alleged.
"We cannot let the rhetoric of a few in Washington cloud the issue," he said.
The president said his proposal to drop the country's top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent would help many of the nation's small businesses, which pay at the 39.6 percent rate.
"Dropping the top rate will enhance the cash flow of the major new job creators in the country," Bush said.
Only a portion of Bush's tax plan has passed the U.S. House. The Senate has yet to consider it.
Bush also advocated elimination of the "marriage penalty" and the estate tax, which he said was tantamount to double taxation of Americans who want to pass businesses on to sons and daughters.
"It's time to get rid of the death tax in the tax code," Bush said.
Bush was launching a two-day, three-state trip to promote his budget and tax plan. The tour will be capped by a speech today in Michigan on the economy.
As the trip began, spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that the country was "in the middle of an economic downturn" that required Bush's prescription of tax cuts and budget tightening.
Asked in Kansas City whether he agreed with Fleischer's use of the word "downturn," Bush told reporters: "Let the numbers speak for themselves.
"I believe the economy has slowed down, and we better do something about it."
He added, "I'm confident if we do the right thing, we can have economic growth, the likes of which we had in the past."
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