Imperialist Watch
2007-01-29 00:30:23 UTC
Political die cast for Bush, recovery unlikely
Is Bush relevant? Of course, but credibility is the issue that counts
ANALYSIS
By Ron Fournier
Editor-in-chief
HotSoup
Updated: 7:56 a.m. ET Jan 26, 2007
President Bush has lost the greatest commodity a president can possess: The
public's trust.
Scattered with Katrina's winds and buried in the bloody battlefields of
Iraq, his credibility is likely gone forever, which means there will be no
political comeback for Bush. His die is cast.
As he stood before the nation and Congress on Tuesday, pleading for the
benefit of the doubt in Iraq, polls showed that less than a third of
Americans approved of his job performance. Two-thirds said his political
problems are long-term. Solid majorities called their president
untrustworthy, stubborn and out of touch with their problems.
The State of the Union address, a ritual tailor-made for presidential
recoveries, was nearly eclipsed by events outside Bush's control:
a.. Three days before the address, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
jumped into a fast-budding 2008 presidential race that threatens to
overshadow Bush's agenda and whet the public's appetite for change at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
a.. Also on Saturday, a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter crashed in northeast
of Baghdad, killing all 12 service members on board.
a.. Hours before the address, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of
staff went on trial for perjury. The case is a public reminder of a White
House deception: Bush's press secretary insisted in 2003 that no senior
White House officials were involved in the leak of a CIA officer's name. In
fact, at least two were involved.
a.. Hours after the address, the Democratic-led Senate Foreign Relations
Committee issued a no-confidence vote on his troop escalation strategy. Some
fellow Republicans abandoned him.
"What do you believe? What are you willing to support? Why were you
elected?" asked Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as he implored colleagues to
stand up to the White House after four years of acquiescence. "If you wanted
a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business."
Indeed, it is. Just two years ago, Bush was awash in inaugural glow after a
triumphant re-election. In two national campaigns, Bush had forged a bond
with Americans, many of whom disagreed with him on policy grounds but felt
that he would always do what he thought was right - and shoot straight about
it.
Many American started having second thoughts in the spring of 2005, when the
war in Iraq grew bloodier than they were told to expect - and the president
insisted that things were fine. Anti-war sentiments gained steam in the
summer, when the mother of a slain soldier held a vigil outside Bush's ranch
in Texas. The president refused to visit with Cindy Sheehan during her Texas
vigil, which struck many voters as not only insensitive to a grieving mother
but a repudiation of their own doubts about the war.
Then came Katrina, the Gulf Coast hurricane in the late summer of 2005 that
exposed government incompetence and lies. Even when TV pictures told a
different story, Bush and his advisers tried to put a sunny spin on recovery
efforts. It wasn't the malfeasance that hurt Bush the most (the public
expects a certain amount of incompetence from government). It was the
misinformation.
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job," he famously told Federal Emergency
Management Agency director Michael Brown. The public knew that wasn't the
truth.
Bush lost the benefit of the doubt after Katrina. He couldn't explain away
the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the shifting rationales for
war or the unmet expectations on the battlefield - even though each event on
its own had plausible explanations.
In the spring of 1995, President Clinton faced a political crisis of his own
when White House polling revealed that only 35 percent of the public was
willing to consider voting for him in 1996. Voters had just ended 40 years
of Democratic control in Congress, a repudiation of Clinton's policies that
made the 1994 midterms unrivaled in significance until last November's vote
against Bush's Republican Party.
In one memorable news conference, Clinton ventured into a debate about his
relevancy. It seems silly now because, of course, he was relevant. The
nation's chief executive and commander in chief is always relevant. The
question the public had about him in 1995 was - Is he effective? Is he up to
the job?
Clinton answered those questions and regained the public's confidence with
his response to circumstances outside his control (the 1995 Oklahoma City
bombing) and events of his own making (the 1995 government shutdown).
Clinton also had the benefit of another campaign in 1996 to redeem himself.
Bush has run his final race.
Bush, like Clinton, never lost his relevancy, but that is little solace when
the core value of his presidency has always been credibility. People trusted
Bush to do what was right, even when they disagreed with him on policy. That
bond has been broken. Nothing could be more damaging.
Join the conversation about this article at www.hotsoup.com.
Copyright 2007 by HotSoup.comCopyright 2007 by HotSoup.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16823579/from/RS.2/
--
"We are creating enemies faster than we can kill them"
- bumper sticker in Washington DC
Is Bush relevant? Of course, but credibility is the issue that counts
ANALYSIS
By Ron Fournier
Editor-in-chief
HotSoup
Updated: 7:56 a.m. ET Jan 26, 2007
President Bush has lost the greatest commodity a president can possess: The
public's trust.
Scattered with Katrina's winds and buried in the bloody battlefields of
Iraq, his credibility is likely gone forever, which means there will be no
political comeback for Bush. His die is cast.
As he stood before the nation and Congress on Tuesday, pleading for the
benefit of the doubt in Iraq, polls showed that less than a third of
Americans approved of his job performance. Two-thirds said his political
problems are long-term. Solid majorities called their president
untrustworthy, stubborn and out of touch with their problems.
The State of the Union address, a ritual tailor-made for presidential
recoveries, was nearly eclipsed by events outside Bush's control:
a.. Three days before the address, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
jumped into a fast-budding 2008 presidential race that threatens to
overshadow Bush's agenda and whet the public's appetite for change at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
a.. Also on Saturday, a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter crashed in northeast
of Baghdad, killing all 12 service members on board.
a.. Hours before the address, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of
staff went on trial for perjury. The case is a public reminder of a White
House deception: Bush's press secretary insisted in 2003 that no senior
White House officials were involved in the leak of a CIA officer's name. In
fact, at least two were involved.
a.. Hours after the address, the Democratic-led Senate Foreign Relations
Committee issued a no-confidence vote on his troop escalation strategy. Some
fellow Republicans abandoned him.
"What do you believe? What are you willing to support? Why were you
elected?" asked Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as he implored colleagues to
stand up to the White House after four years of acquiescence. "If you wanted
a safe job, go sell shoes. This is a tough business."
Indeed, it is. Just two years ago, Bush was awash in inaugural glow after a
triumphant re-election. In two national campaigns, Bush had forged a bond
with Americans, many of whom disagreed with him on policy grounds but felt
that he would always do what he thought was right - and shoot straight about
it.
Many American started having second thoughts in the spring of 2005, when the
war in Iraq grew bloodier than they were told to expect - and the president
insisted that things were fine. Anti-war sentiments gained steam in the
summer, when the mother of a slain soldier held a vigil outside Bush's ranch
in Texas. The president refused to visit with Cindy Sheehan during her Texas
vigil, which struck many voters as not only insensitive to a grieving mother
but a repudiation of their own doubts about the war.
Then came Katrina, the Gulf Coast hurricane in the late summer of 2005 that
exposed government incompetence and lies. Even when TV pictures told a
different story, Bush and his advisers tried to put a sunny spin on recovery
efforts. It wasn't the malfeasance that hurt Bush the most (the public
expects a certain amount of incompetence from government). It was the
misinformation.
"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job," he famously told Federal Emergency
Management Agency director Michael Brown. The public knew that wasn't the
truth.
Bush lost the benefit of the doubt after Katrina. He couldn't explain away
the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the shifting rationales for
war or the unmet expectations on the battlefield - even though each event on
its own had plausible explanations.
In the spring of 1995, President Clinton faced a political crisis of his own
when White House polling revealed that only 35 percent of the public was
willing to consider voting for him in 1996. Voters had just ended 40 years
of Democratic control in Congress, a repudiation of Clinton's policies that
made the 1994 midterms unrivaled in significance until last November's vote
against Bush's Republican Party.
In one memorable news conference, Clinton ventured into a debate about his
relevancy. It seems silly now because, of course, he was relevant. The
nation's chief executive and commander in chief is always relevant. The
question the public had about him in 1995 was - Is he effective? Is he up to
the job?
Clinton answered those questions and regained the public's confidence with
his response to circumstances outside his control (the 1995 Oklahoma City
bombing) and events of his own making (the 1995 government shutdown).
Clinton also had the benefit of another campaign in 1996 to redeem himself.
Bush has run his final race.
Bush, like Clinton, never lost his relevancy, but that is little solace when
the core value of his presidency has always been credibility. People trusted
Bush to do what was right, even when they disagreed with him on policy. That
bond has been broken. Nothing could be more damaging.
Join the conversation about this article at www.hotsoup.com.
Copyright 2007 by HotSoup.comCopyright 2007 by HotSoup.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16823579/from/RS.2/
--
"We are creating enemies faster than we can kill them"
- bumper sticker in Washington DC