Rich Lowry laments the fact that many conservatives are in a weird kind of funk right now regarding the sad state of the Bush administration, and not many have an answer when asked what the president can do now to improve. But never fear. Lowry comes up with a seven suggestions for Bush to consider. Among my favorites:
— Talk about the economy as much as possible, and get a new treasury secretary to try to shift the conversation onto this topic (although I don’t think John Snow is in anyway to blame for the administration’s failed PR campaign on this front).
Ah yes, the economy. If Clinton was still in the White House (or any Democrat for that matter), we’d be hearing and reading about this killer economy every night from the MSM. We’d hear over and over again what a genius Clinton is and how everything else that’s going wrong pales in comparison to his masterful money works. But alas, this is the Bush era, so he gets no credit for improving economic numbers. In fact, the soaring economy is rarely mentioned at all. He needs better PR, and he himself should be out there banging the drums on this subject. If he doesn’t, no one else will.
— Veto a spending bill. It will make him look strong, and the GOP base will love it. It will embarrass the GOP congress, but, hey, they deserve it, and ultimately the congressional GOP gains when Bush gains.
Yes! JUST DO IT.
And…
— Sit-down with conservative bloggers. They are some of his most loyal supporters–include them in the media out-reach.
I’m ready for a meet up at your convenience Mr. President.
And while I wholeheartedly agree with the PR nature of your post, there’s one thing I wish we could all agree on: the PUSA has absolutely nothing to do with the state of the American economy. Nothing. Stop crediting him; stop blaming him (whoever he is regardless of party). He’s the president, not the CEO of the United States Corporation of America.
The president can (try to) raise taxes, lower taxes or tinker with tariffs. That’s it. He does any of that, it might affect the economy, might not.