Unnerving Quote of The Day
There comes a point for some unfortunate presidents when the American people begin to hit the mute button; they just stop listening. Or to put it differently, when the public turns strongly against an elected official on an issue, they begin to turn on that official on everything. In this case, Iraq has become a ball and chain for President Bush, weighing him down on every issue. The separation [in approval rating] between his weakest issue, Iraq, and his strongest, terrorism, is just five points.--Political handicapper Charlie Cook, writing at NationalJournal.com.
Here's hoping Bush can find a way to deal with this. I do not think the public has turned strongly against Bush on Iraq; they're restless with the way it's going but are not opposing him -- yet. Even so, all the recent White House pratfalls do not inspire much confidence in me that he can get out in front of the people on the war.
posted by Lowell Brown at 11:56 AM
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5 Comments:
It all comes down to lack of effective use of "the bully pulpit." This administration has shown total ineptness in getting its message out. Granted it is more difficult when the big media seem to be echo chamber of the carping from the Democratic side, but it is NOT impossible. A "whirlwind" of a few speeches to sympathetic audiences every few months is not the same thing as making your position heard.
Posted by BlueBuffoon
The ball and chain issue for President Bush (contrary to what the Left loves to believe) is NOT Iraq. The ball and chain is Immigration.
As long as the President only talks about his Guest Worker program and says nothing (and worse, does nothing) about enforcement, his numbers will stay in the tank.
Posted by SkyePuppy
War isn't a Saturday afternoon matinee -it may take years -or in this case decades. Our wimpy feel good self esteem raised folk just don't get it. the alternative with these rdaicals is defeat and destruction. Who ever thought it would be a picnic? It is not over there this time folks -9/11 changed all that forever. They will be back and it's clear that we lack the intestinal fortitude and the courage as well as the perserverance necessary to prevail. It is time to decide -fight like hell, behind our commander in chief, or buy a Koran and a prayer mat, because that is our simple choice.
Posted by DL
Blue Buffoon
I agree with the bully pulpit comment, but it is much bigger -a lot of the lost support is because of Bush's anti-conservative actions in other areas:economics, borders, big government entitlements, no child left behind nonsense, Harriet Miers attempt, silence when attacked implying guilt and spuring a feeling of helpless impotence, and amnesty, oh yes -helping the left by getting Specter re-elected.
You make the better point though -it is really about perception and there has probably never been a worse president in terms of defining and defending his goals -from his press secretary (nice doesn't work with the left) to his failure to see the trends going against him in time to stop the lies from becoming truisms in the minds of the immpressionable voting public.
I also think some of the drop is due frustration due to the lack of truly conservative candidates in the Party for the upcoming election - most are less conservative opportunists than ever.
Posted by DL
Dear DL,
It's not that we lack the intestinal fortitutde to get the job done. It's that we lack a sufficient number of troops to get the job done. Are you forgetting that Rumsfeld ignored the generals who warned that he'd need 300-400K troops? Are you foregetting the claim that the war would cost no more than $20B and that Iraqi oil would pay for the war within 2 years? Are you forgetting that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 and was contained and neutered? Are you forgetting that numerous White House insiders have corroberated the story that GWB was planning to invade Iraq from the first day he came into office?
Bush's numbers are in the tank over Iraq because he and his Secretary of Defense made some bad, bad decisions, and the people are finally waking up to it. Don't give me this 9/11 changed everything BS. Dubya wanted to finish Daddy's job in Iraq and there was nothing that was going to stop him from doing it. What the hell does that have to do with the war on terror?
Posted by Chris
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