One thing I haven’t seen too many people talking about is the role of George W. Bush in the upcoming presidential campaign. He’s not much of an asset to the eventual Republican nominee, with 40% of the electorate holding a ‘very negative’ opinion of him and another 17% a ‘somewhat negative’ view. He’s only slightly less unpopular than gonorrhea…something Dan Bartlett obliquely acknowledges:
“There is kind of a reset button in which the nominee reintroduces himself to the public. And it’s going to be important for the president and the White House to let him do just that,” said Dan Bartlett, Bush’s former counselor and a key aide during Bush’s campaigns for Texas governor and president.
“That definitional period is so significant, and the president is such a big gun to associate yourself with,” Bartlett said. “So I wouldn’t expect a big bear hug.”
That’s a kind way of putting it, but that doesn’t mean the president is without tools to assist the GOP nominee.
When Bush does get actively engaged, he has tools to influence the campaign that no one else can wield.
Bush can issue executive orders and promote policies that put his party in a good light. He can zoom into town on Air Force One and raise huge amounts of money for his party. And he has a Cabinet stocked with surrogates who can visit targeted states and congressional districts to dole out grants.
“They can put their thumb on the scale,” said John Podesta, who was chief of staff to Bill Clinton for the last part of the Democrat’s two-term presidency. “That doesn’t buy you 5 points in the polls, but if it’s a very tight race – a repeat of 2000 or 2004 – that can be a big difference.”
Cabinet members might have an exemption under the Hatch Act to partake in partisan political activities (I’m not a lawyer), but civil servants are not supposed to do that stuff. Nevertheless, Bush doesn’t have much more to offer than surrogates and the machinery of the federal government to weigh in on one side of a presidential election.
If, as I expect, John McCain is the Republican nominee it will be interesting to see how he uses Bush. What do you think?
