Peter Baker gives the President advice on how to rescue his Presidency. It’s all fine and good, except for one thing. Baker looks back at how Reagan and Clinton recovered from the midterms of 1986 and 1994, respectively. Reagan and Clinton were probably the greatest communicators in our Presidential history. By comparison, George W. Bush is a chimpanzee. The bully pulpit is almost totally useless to him. It’s not just his total lack of communication skills, it’s his total lack of credibility. No one believes a word his says.
Sure, there are still a few people willing to go buy some duct tape and a few hundred gallons of spring water anytime the administration yells, “Boo”. But that game is tired. Here is how the Establishment wants Bush to act:
Like Clinton, he has identified issues on which he thinks he can meet the opposition in the middle, including the minimum wage, education, immigration, energy and lobbying. But Bush has also signaled that he will fight over issues such as judicial nominations.
“Clinton had an imperative in ’96 to get reelected,” said Steve Elmendorf, a top House Democratic strategist at the time. “Bush, his imperative is more about his legacy. That gives him more running room to move to the center if he wants to and leave his party behind, because he doesn’t have to run for reelection.”
As long as both sides run to the center, the Beltway will be happy. But God forbid that the Democrats act like the suddenly empowered battered wives that they are. And heaven forbid that Bush stand by his principles and refuse to sell out his party.
Bush will have no legacy, he will accomplish nothing. He is incapable of seizing the moment and leading the nation. He has very few political skills. He has even less political flexibility. Dollars to donuts he will get bogged down obstructing justice and vetoing popular legislation. If you haven’t figured out he is a loser by now, you’ll never learn to judge a man’s character.