Wrong. This is probably the number one complaint that can be rightly leveled against Bush. He not only failed to use the bully pulpit forcefully for all that was good, but he didn't defend core Republican principles, he didn't defend his poliicies, he didn't defend his people, he didn't defend the smears against him....in short, he chose not to communicate with the country in creative, effective, persistant ways as did FDR, JFK and President Reagan.
Therefore, most of the other and numerous complaints against him SPRUNG FROM the aforementioned....i.e., his refusal to use the bully pulpit to bully, cajole or explain.
He squaundered his golden opportunities at every turn and our party eventually and unceremoniously went down with his ship because of it.
Leni
The people who use the “bully pulpit” argument claiming Reagan as an example, 1. do not recognize that the media game has changed in the past 25 years, 2. fail to understand that Reagan might have been a “one off,” and 3. fail to recognize Bush’s consistently low approval ratings (after Iraq).
I won’t be buying the book......
It pains me to say you are 1000% right, but you are. Why the man couldn’t do even a semi-effective job in defending conservative principles, or himself, remains a mystery.