Clintonian and Nixonian and Stupid, Too!
October 10th, 2006You guys want to know something nifty? I’m taking a trip to Planned Parenthood this afternoon. Details will come later or tomorrow, but they will come. We’ll see how things go. Let’s get to the meat of this coconut, though, and not savor tomorrow’s.
George W. Bush’s White House is in even worse shape than it may appear to be. Know why? Take this story in, first, and then I’ll explain.
Suddenly, like the fierce “blue northers” that sweep across Texas each autumn, the political winds have turned bleaker for Republicans - and President Bush’s private mood has blackened accordingly. Just two weeks ago, as gasoline prices plummeted and his tough-talking terror counterattack began moving poll numbers his way, Bush turned bullish on the November elections. “He’s on scent and he’s driving hard,” a longtime political confidant of the President reported early this month. “He’s got the microphone and thinks he’s controlling the political debate.”
First Lady Laura Bush, who is even more in demand than her husband on the political stump this cycle, also was telling aides she thought the tide had finally turned. Now, however, friends, aides and close political allies tell the Daily News Bush is furious with his own side for helping create a political downdraft that has blunted his momentum and endangered GOP prospects for keeping control of Congress next month.
This is Clintonian and Nixonian and Stupid at the same time. First of all, Laura Bush’s opinion should never be consulted about politics and it isn’t because she’s a woman. I know plenty of women I trust with politics and advice, but not her. Sorry, but I’m sure George himself won’t tell you that he married her for her brain, and if he says he did, he’s lying.
George is falling into the trap that Failing Presidents often do. He seriously believes, apparently, that he has to go out on the stump to fight for his Republican allies, and he’s blaming them, not himself, for the problems that have befallen him politically. This is a costly, and silly, error. This is exactly what happened to Bill Clinton in 1994. Simply: Bush can not afford to do such a thing as campaign this year. He is not wanted; he is not welcome, and in response to the bold, he is not controlling anything. Every speech he gives puts him on the news, and that reminds Americans of his 34% approval rating. This puts undue pressure on Republicans, and he’s too egomaniacal to understand that. Karl Rove, too, deserves serious blame and condemnation for not explaining it to him.
In situations like the one George W. Bush is in, you only have one choice, and that’s to shut your mouth and do your job as President. It isn’t to campaign because campaigning will accomplish nothing positive for your party, and at this point, this late in a Presidency with these approval ratings so low and the party bound to lose seats (if not control), your best bet is to do your job and stay above the fray because it’s right politically and because there are certain things for the President to work on (Iraq, hello!) and because it’d be better for your legacy, too, in later years.
How silly of the King. How juvenile a mistake of his Turd Blossom. How pathetic of this White House.
