Posted on 06/06/2004 5:30:47 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
In a biblical allusion President Bush might appreciate, his administration has recently experienced seven lean weeks. The gross pictures from Abu Ghraib, threatened Arab uprisings in Fallujah and Najaf and the brutal spike in U.S. casualties combined to make Iraq seem like a hopeless venture. Meanwhile, the steep rise in domestic oil prices had the President's political opponents reflecting nostalgically on the incumbency-busting gas lines of the '70s.
During these weeks, Bush's poll numbers grew lean, too. As they did, the President went about his business with a nonchalance that reminded his detractors of Alfred E. Neuman and disconcerted even his staunch supporters. But Bush is a man of faith. He believed that things would turn around, and they have.
On Friday, the Labor Department announced that 248,000 jobs were added to the economy in May. This is a stunning statistic. Altogether, more than 1 million people have found work since the start of the year, and it's not inconceivable that another million will have jobs by the November election. This trend is especially pronounced in several of the industrial swing states.
These are good tidings for Bush and very bad news for the Democrats. Unemployment was supposed to be their big domestic issue. Until recently, they were comparing Bush with Herbert Hoover. Now his economic numbers look more like Bill Clinton's. As long as they stay that way, the price of gas won't hurt him much.
Iraq is looking up, too. In April, the U.S. lost 136 men and women there. In May, the number declined by almost half. There will be more casualties, but it's now clear that the military has a lid on the violence.
This week in Colorado, Bush delivered one of the best speeches of his presidency. After a long period of inarticulate groping, he finally put Iraq into its proper context as a theater of the worldwide jihad.
This way of looking at things won't convince the-ankle-bone's-not-connected-to-the-foot-bone sophisticates, but it will make sense to a great many swing voters, because it is so obviously true.
Not only that, it suddenly looks as if Bush knows what he's doing. He has put together a respectable Iraqi government - with the backing of Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani no less - and is preparing to turn over sovereignty. The Iraqis themselves are asking for a continued American military presence. Not only that, they are taking Bush's case to the UN for him.
These developments came at the perfect moment for the President. Memorial Day is a political force-multiplier for a wartime leader with good news.
Bush's current trip to Europe is equally well-timed. The 60th anniversary of D-Day gives Bush, as celebrator-in-chief, a priceless opportunity to (silently) chide Germany and France for their lack of gratitude.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi mischievously underscored Old Europe's lapse of memory and manners with his own effusive thank you to the American liberators of his country.
D-Day also gives Bush an opportunity to compare his war against Islamic fascism with World War II. More importantly, Secretary of State Powell is now saying it, too.
Powell has been sulking in his tent since the CIA misled him into telling the UN that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Now that the world knows that it was outgoing CIA chief George (Slam Dunk) Tenet who was at fault, Powell is once more a willing - and prestigious - Republican warrior.
Even the Pope has come through for Bush. The pontiff was supposedly set to berate Bush over American crimes and misdemeanors. Instead, at their Friday meeting he mumbled a few platitudes and gracefully accepted a medal from the President. The Vatican doesn't hand out papal photo-ops to losers.
Of course, the Pope knows that only God's grace lasts forever. Bush knows this, too. After seven leans weeks, the President is wallowing in a fat one. The thing is, there are still 21 more weeks until Election Day.
Yes, and the media will try to make each one worse than the last for Mr. Bush.
Bump for a great summary of the recent course of events.
No matter the realities on the ground, the President MUST be able to communicate his successes to the people, via the bully pulpit, over the heads of the media elites. Nobody did that better than Ronald Reagan. Bush needs to that. EVERY DAY.
this guy is always great
A great summary I'll be sure to email to my liberal friends.....
And print of this is required?
The next thing one will see in print is, American death and mayhem in Iraq was supposed to be the big foreign issue!
Anything bad for our country would be welcomed with open arms by the Lib's if it gave sustenance to their political cause.
This way of looking at things won't convince the-ankle-bone's-not-connected-to-the-foot-bone sophisticates sophists , but it will make sense to a great many swing voters, because it is so obviously true.
I keep repeating myself, but I know GWB will not pull any punches if he sees he is going to lose the election. It has been reported (and this is where I keep repeating myself) that GWB took his dad's defeat to Clinton harder than GHWB took his defeat. GWB knows the pain of a country rejecting a person, especially to such an unethical,self-center man like Clinton. GWB is not going to let Kerry do the same thing to him.
Not to mention, Hillary is not going to let Kerry win.
Have confidence and faith, we know what we are up against, so we will deal with it.
I keep repeating myself, but I know GWB will not pull any punches if he sees he is going to lose the election. It has been reported (and this is where I keep repeating myself) that GWB took his dad's defeat to Clinton harder than GHWB took his defeat. GWB knows the pain of a country rejecting a person, especially to such an unethical,self-center man like Clinton. GWB is not going to let Kerry do the same thing to him.
Not to mention, Hillary is not going to let Kerry win.
Have confidence and faith, we know what we are up against, so we will deal with it.
I keep repeating myself, but I know GWB will not pull any punches if he sees he is going to lose the election. It has been reported (and this is where I keep repeating myself) that GWB took his dad's defeat to Clinton harder than GHWB took his defeat. GWB knows the pain of a country rejecting a person, especially to such an unethical,self-center man like Clinton. GWB is not going to let Kerry do the same thing to him.
Not to mention, Hillary is not going to let Kerry win.
Have confidence and faith, we know what we are up against, so we will deal with it.
I really like Zev, I tend to read everything by him that's posted, and he has the ability to turn me around on issues because I respect him and think he's honest. Same with Steyn, Paul Cella and Mark Helprin (sp?).
Thanks for posting this.
have, it seems to me, gotten approximately the negative press and Congressional attention which Filegate inspired early in the x42 administration. Kerry has already said more about presidential accountability for it than I ever heard from Bob Dole; Mr. Kerry pledges to know what his people are doing. But considering that Mr. Livingstone perpetrated two thousand felonies, one count of which put a Nixon aide in jail for a year, and that he perpetrated those felonies in Mr. Clinton's basement while Abu Graib is ten time zones from Washington, and that the Bush Administration discovered, revealed, investigated, and is prosecuting Ab Graib whereas the Clinton Administration did none of that in Filegate, you have to say that the treatment of the two scandals has been wildly disproportionate to their relative seriousness.Indeed if the publication of those photos is culpable, it is journalism rather than the government which is responsible for that.
Poor Bill. Bill was always jealous of the legacy that Reagan has. And now in Bill's latest attempt to try to create a legacy out of the ashes of his wasted time in office, Reagan overshadows Clinton again. Bill will always be vaguely remembered for the "I did not have sex...", while Reagan will forever be remembered for "tear down that wall". Reagan is a pillar in history, Clinton is an asterisk.
Reagan is a pillar in history, Clinton is a stain.
BUMP!
In the coverage of Reagan's passing, someone told a story about the great respect he had for the Oval Office.....he would not ever take his coat off.....then the speaker mentioned the 'little private room' where Reagan might invite special visitors....'the same room a later president made known for a different reason'....everyone smirked & chuckled....Clinton's name was not mentioned but all knew it was him.
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