Populist? I surely hope not.
Posted on 06/12/2005 9:44:14 AM PDT by sirthomasthemore
It’s time for a George W. Bush comeback strategy. His public approval rating is at its lowest point ever — while his disapproval rating at its highest, a more telling sign. On top of that, Capitol Hill is in a rebellious mood on several fronts. As a result, the president’s clout meter seems headed toward as low as a second-termer’s can get.
The president can easily turn this around and get his groove back. For starters, though, he has to stop talking so much. There is too much Bush-speak out there. His team seems to think that the way for Bush to maintain momentum is to be on the tube saying something every day. Bush is certainly a trooper, but presidents devalue their currency with too much circulation. That’s what is happening to him now.
As heretical as it is for a journalist to say this, even the president’s suddenly more regular encounters with reporters — he has held monthly news conferences since January — are not helping him. He’s not very good at them. His unscripted and unpunctuated ramblings sound defensive and weak.
“I readily concede there is this attitude in Washington where, we can’t work together,” Bush said, running out of steam at the end of an eight-paragraph answer to a Social Security question during his Rose Garden session with the media on May 31.
Yet this White House relies so heavily on Bush as communicator that it has few other principals to put forward to do the president’s bleeding. Usually that is what Cabinet members do, but with a few exceptions — Condoleezza Rice and Donald H. Rumsfeld, mainly — this Cabinet is about as relevant and useful to this president as a House Democrat. When’s the last time you saw Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez on television? Or Labor’s Elaine L. Chao?
Perhaps it is time for Bush to get off the campaign trail, stick around the White House and invite more lawmakers over for some personal arm-twisting. A frequent gripe on Capitol Hill, even from Republicans, is that the president does not do enough of his own backdoor lobbying. Contrast his style with his father’s, who would bring both his friends and enemies up from Capitol Hill for some Oval Office quality time. Aside from Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, it’s not clear that Bush is on a first-name basis with many lawmakers.
There is good news for the president in all this. The Bush-is-down story line has almost run its course. In the roller coaster world of political news coverage, he is poised for an upturn.
Lucky for him, the opposition is too mired in its own distractions — such as Democratic Chairman Howard Dean’s chronic foot-in-mouth disease — to take much advantage of Bush’s soured image. So, far from being a lame duck, the president is simply on the wrong end of a temporary bear market in our politics.
Even some Republicans are thinking about selling their Bush stock in anticipation of his declining value to them. New York’s former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who’s angling for the 2008 presidential nomination, sounded like he was covering his bets on the Iraq War when recently asked if it’s turning out to be a bad idea. “Oh, you never know,” he said on MSNBC. “History proves us sometimes right and sometimes wrong.”
Giuliani went on to say quite adamantly that Bush did the right thing in ousting Saddam Hussein, but his cavalier comment about history’s verdict sure was a far cry from his speech at the 2004 Republican convention, when he entertained no such doubts. Like many in the GOP, Giuliani is now thinking more about his own political future than Bush’s.
Reshuffling the Deck So this is probably a good time for Bush to cut his losses. Domestic distractions are draining his power and creating the impression that he is not focused on a solution for the deepening crisis in Iraq. But there is still time to cut a deal on Social Security that allows him the appearance of success even if it does not get all he wants.
One sign that Bush might understand his need to reshuffle the deck came in his answer to a recent question about closing the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. “We’re exploring all alternatives,” he said on the Fox News Channel, broadly hinting that he might be looking for a way to end the voracious debate about guards abusing prisoners.
The most dangerous aspect of Bush’s sideshow-laden second term is how the extraneous issues he pursues give Americans the impression that he has dropped the ball in Iraq. With some fresh ideas, and some new faces at the helm, Bush might regain the public’s faith in his management of the worsening situation there.
Every time the president hits the road to talk about Social Security, it looks like he is living in denial about the bad news from Iraq. If he dumps the divisive domestic agenda and shows some new thinking about Iraq, the president will have his comeback.
These are the issues that will control 2006 elections, and mobilize base.
Get off Soc. Sec- Dems don't want solution; they will just demagogue.
Bush-haters giving Bush advice.....yeah....that's the ticket....
What do you think the president does, or should do, about the price of gas?
Craig Crawford is no friend of the President, and I'm quite sure the White House knows this.
Craig Crawford is a dreadful man.
Craig Crawford seems to have gotten the same talking points memo espoused on MEET THE PRESS today. David Broder and Judy Woodruff both wonder why the president hasn't called in his team to respond to the low poll numbers. "that's what Bill Clinton would have done", they say. Judy especially seemed positively perplexed that instead of worrying about his poll numbers, Bush just keeps on message pushing his programs, seemingly undeterred by the polls.
Couldn't agree more. I've heard him a few times on Imus and he makes my skin crawl.
GWB JOB APPROVAL . . .
AP/IPSOS REID: 43%
[. . . an Associated Press poll conducted by a Canadian firm . . . 'nuf said!]
More analysis at http://therevolutionwillbeblogged.blogspot.com/2005/06/ap-ipsos-poll-is-fraud.html
GALLUP: 47%
[88% approval from Republicans -- all that matters!]
RASMUSSEN: 51%
[since 2004, Rasmussen has proven to be the most accurate of the 3 pollsters cited!]
Driven by their political orientation and/or professional laziness, ALL of these pollsters are currently 'oversampling' both Democrats and the socio-politically ignorant (i.e., 'adults only' vs 'registered' or 'likely voters'). They won't start producing VALID polling results until a month or two before the 2006 election!
BOTTOMLINE: Ignore all of this polling nonsense; if you can't, just remember the following:
1.) President Bush has had, and continues to have, a higher JA from Republicans than President Reagan . . . and for his second term, this is all that matters!! [FYI: Can you imagine what the media/'fair weather' Republicans must have been saying when President Reagan's JA hit a 'Gallup' low of 35% in his first term and 43% in his second term?! . . . To date, GWB's lowest Gallup rating has been 45%]
2.) The Gallup JA ratings posted for GWB in May/June '05 are THE SAME as the Gallup ratings posted during May/June '04 and the 47% posted this week is the same rating that Gallup posted all during October '04 -- before the President won an historic 62 million votes and 51% of the overall vote -- a MAJORITY vote that eluded Bill Clinton during BOTH of his campaigns even though he posted a Gallup JA of 54% the day before he garnered only 49% of the vote in 1996 . . . hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?!)!
3.) The following is all you need to know about the AP poll:
"It looks as though the Associated Depressed planned ahead for this week’s stream of bad news – for old hippies and young “librules” – by concocting one of those asinine “public opinion polls” regarding the President’s alleged job approval.
And sure enough the AP was able to vomit up a treasure trove of cognitive displacement.
Yep.
BTW: We’re talking about the same AP-Ipsos “polling” outfit which had Kerry leading the President by four percentage points – 50-46 – in early-October of last year.
The same AP-Ipsos which had Kerry leading by three points – 49-46 – in mid-October.
Um, that’s not quite how things turned out, Chomsky.
Oh, well, undecideds break for the challenger.
No mandate.
Slim majority.
Diebold.
TANG.
Worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover.
And last, but certainly not least, the “emerging Democratic majority.”
-- Jayson
http://www.polipundit.com/
No. We're not falling for the "friendly" advice of the liberal. This isn't the time for a bunker mentality - which is exactly what the Left would like to see.
Direct hit. The issues are: Immigration, pocketbook issues - taxes and prices, and I would put general dissatisfaction with Homelame Security and the "PATRIOT" act ahead of judges.
But no matter what's on your list, Bush is not delivering the stuff that makes core Republicans want to get out and vote.
And we all know how well Dole's "But no matter how dull I am I'm better than Clinton" strategy worked.
We are steering toward another Dole-style loss.
Here's a bio I found on Craig Crawford:
"Craig Crawford is a columnist for Congressional Quarterly and a News Analyst for MSNBC and CNBC, and “The Early Show” on CBS. His non-partisan column -- White House Trail Mix -- appears Fridays in CQ Today.
For six years – 1997 to 2003 -- Crawford ran The Hotline, a daily online political briefing published by the National Journal Group. Previously he was a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, where he covered politics. Crawford was the newspaper’s Washington bureau chief from 1989 to 1997. Before becoming a journalist, he served in 1984 as the Alabama State Field Director for the John Glenn presidential primary campaign, and the Georgia State Field Director for the Mondale/Ferraro general election campaign.
Born in Owensboro, Kentucky during the Eisenhower administration, Crawford was raised in Orlando, Florida, graduating from Stetson University in DeLand and its law school in Gulfport, FL. He practiced law in Orlando until 1984 and, although no longer practicing, is still a licensed attorney in the Florida Bar"
Now we know more about Imus' favorite guest, Craig Crawford. Check out my previous reply.
I can still see him on TV before the election.
George Bush is watching his chances for re-election slip away.
John Kerry will be elected.
Populist? I surely hope not.
But no matter what's on your list, Bush is not delivering the stuff that makes core Republicans want to get out and vote.
I don't know what he was in the past, but all you need to know about the current-day Crawford is that last week he substituted for Ron Reagan in the liberal seat on MSNBC's dreadful "Connected Coast-to-Coast" program.
Craig Crawford predicted a Kerry win the day before the eletion because he didn't know anybody who would vote for Bush.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.