Posted on 08/03/2010 7:36:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If Democrats want to convince anyone not already firmly in their own camp to support their candidates, they need a better argument than BushBushBushBushBush. National Journal reports the results of a poll commissioned by a Democrat-leaning think tank that shows voters don’t consider today’s GOP as watercarriers for Barack Obama’s predecessor. Almost two-thirds of respondents see Republican control of Congress as, well, Hope and Change:
Dems have tried repeatedly to tie the GOP to Bush’s economic policies, which remain highly unpopular. But so far, that hasn’t worked, according to officials at the Dem-leaning Third Way think tank.
“Just eighteen months after President Bush left office with the nation’s economy in historic freefall, two-thirds of Americans now see congressional Republicans and their economic ideas as new and completely separate from those of the former president,” the group wrote in a strategy memo sent to Dem leaders last month.
A majority, 53%, of Americans still blame Pres. Bush for the country’s economic woes, while 26% pin the blame on Pres. Obama. Only 14% give Bush excellent or good ratings on handling the federal budget, and 28% say he helped the middle class, according to a survey from Benenson Strategy Group.
But just 25% of Americans say that the GOP’s return to power in Congress will mean a return to those unpopular Bush policies. Fully 65% believe a GOP Congress would promote “a new economic agenda that is different from George W. Bush’s policies.”
A thin fraction of independent voters (22%) and Dems (32%) believe the GOP is set to return to Bush’s agenda. That’s great news for GOPers, who seem headed for an electoral romp this year, and bad news for Dems, who see tying the GOP to Bush’s legacy as a surefire way of beating back the GOP onslaught.
Of course, Barack Obama has not quite caught up to the news:
Obama said that after losing control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, Republicans did not engage in new thinking but stuck to the same policies that led the United States into the worst recession since the Great Depression.
“It’s not like they engaged in some heavy reflection. They have not come up with a single, solitary new idea to address the challenges of the American people. They don’t have a single idea that is different from George Bush’s,” he said.
Republicans, he said, are betting that Americans had forgotten recent history.
Which recent history? The recent history of Obama’s promise to keep unemployment below 8% if Congress gave him $787 billion to spend? That recent history? Or the recent history showing that civilian participation in the workforce has hit a historic low under his leadership? How about the $2.2 trillion math error made by the Obama White House in calculating future deficits? The failure of the stimulus plan to sustain real growth instead of just creating gimmicky spikes in markets?
Obama wants voters to forget recent history, not remember it. Unfortunately, the Bush Boogeyman Boogie simply isn’t as effective as it was in 2008, before Obama won his election and had to start governing for himself. Not only has that failed to keep criticism from falling on his shoulders, it hasn’t kept almost two-thirds of voters from noticing that the GOP has become more free-market oriented since the retirement of the man who claimed to have violated those principles in order to save the free market.
Voters have seen four years of the Democratic agenda from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and two years of incompetence from Barack Obama. The real boogeymen in this cycle are all Democrats, and chanting BushBushBushBushBush just demonstrates how far out of touch Democratic leadership has become from the electorate.
November is going to be an electoral bloodbath. I pray we get a new Congress with the sand to impeach Obama, try him for treason and bring him to justice.
Gop Agenda should be “Investigate, Prosecute, Defund, Repeal.”
Excuse me...what unpopular Bush policies?
Tax cuts for everyone who pays income taxes?
Really, people are reacting to the name of Bush and to what happened at the very end of his Presidency (which Obama quadrupled down on and made so much worse), not really to his “policies” for 8 years.
And still, they aren’t tying the current Republicans in Congress to Bush.
That’s something to feel good about, anyways.
The only way the second half of your prayer MIGHT come true is if some clearcut criminal act is manifested for all to see.
Of course they COULD impeach for abuse of power, dereliction of duty to protect the nation, etc. but they will not.
Pray away but it won’t happen.
New Congress, though, is a distinct possibility.
Congress went into the hands of the Leftist Dems in 2006 - they are the ones responsible for the legislation and spending boondoggles that helped bring on the ultimate crash & burn in 2008 — I will never defend Bush as a fiscal conservative small govt. Prez - he wasn’t any of that, to this country’s detriment. Interestingly the Media never bashed Bush for growing the federal govt.’s stranglehold (Medicare Part D & No Child Left Behind are two examples of totally unnecessary expansion of power and debt). Barry takes it to a whole new level. He must be stopped, that’s all I can say.
If theres one thing the dims are well aware of, it's that the US electorate can be fooled a helluva lot of the time, and they use that to their advantage to it's maximum potential. Seems like the max is a little over 2 years.
I know... they can blame Cheney!
“Excuse me...what unpopular Bush policies?”
Yeah I’ve been wondering this as well. He overspent and created a huge new entitlement (prescription drug), but only conservatives were mad at him for these actions - most Americans were Ok with it. And as much as I disliked Bush’s defecits, it was not those deficits which caused the current recession/depression. That was caused by massive consumer debt, financial and real estate bubbles, and crony capitalism on Wall Street. All of which were pushed by Democrats, rather than Bush.
And yet the Dems all repeat the refrain “failed economic policies of the Bush era.” If Obama were actually challenged to name some of these “failed policies” I wonder what his answer would be?
It’s only been nineteen months - of course it is all still Bush’s fault.
I was responding to one who said a prayer that a new Congress would impeach, convict and remove from office one President Barack Hussein Obama.
I just gave my prediction that such a thing wouldn’t happen, unless he were caught redhanded in a severely criminal act.
He would not be for abuse of power, dereliction of duty etc and other generalities, even if such charges are true.
So? the unions, black vote, “latino”/hispanic vote, weird lifestyle fetishists are lock step for democrats.
The GOP is focused on ensuring defeat by election social and fiscal liberals.
We have to take over one party and then CRUSHING the other into oblivion.
There must not be any intelligent Democrats they only know two things Bush did it or you are racist..Only the blacks will believe both statements..I should say not all blacks but the slave ones that depend on the democrats to make every decision about anything for them..
I've done just that with some lefties. I usually get the deer in the headlights look. Others better schooled in leftist dogma charge that it was the lack of Gov regulation and oversight. This also is a commie boogie man that says capitalism if left on its own will take us to hell in a handbasket.
Are you kidding? Some are still blaming Reagan.
I think 48 months is the cut-off.
talk about a campaign slogan backfiring on your ass.
Here’s an idea for the Republican Party to run with “Here’s your real hope and change...A Republican majority”
Yesterday
48% Blame Obama for Bad Economy, 47% Blame Bush
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