Praise the president.
Bolster Bush.
Win for “W.”
I’ve argued before,
and argue again now, that conservatives cannot win in 2008 unless
President George W. Bush’s political standing is at least somewhat
rehabilitated. On Tuesday, Fred Barnes
argued the same thing, and opined that a comeback is still at
least conceivable. (Also on Tuesday, Al Hunt argued just the opposite, namely that the Bush
presidency is irretrievably lost.) On Monday, a wise and moderate
Democratic strategist was telling me that Republicans are doomed in
2008 no matter which presidential candidate they nominate,
specifically because Bush’s unpopularity will suck any nominee down
the drain.
Conservatives must face the reality that we can’t escape the
Bush record in the next two years no matter what else we do. While
the right sort of “distancing” from Bush could gain a candidate a
small tactical advantage here and there, and while conservatives
are rightly infuriated at Bush on any number of fronts, the fact
remains that, in the short term at least, his legacy will be
considered by the general public to be our legacy. His failures
will be ascribed to us. His unpopularity will be an anvil tied to
our ankles. To slightly paraphrase Ben Franklin (but in another
context): If we don’t hang together, we conservatives will surely
all hang separately.
Conversely, any comeback that Bush manages to make will make our
own electoral prospects brighter. If the words “Republican” and
“conservative” are associated not with presidential failure, but
with success, any candidate anywhere who bears those labels will
enjoy greater credibility no matter whether or not he has any
direct connection to President Bush.
Consider this column as one vote on the side that says Bush
still has a chance for at least a fairly significant comeback.
Here’s why and how:
First (and this one is obvious), the better the
situation looks in Iraq, the better Bush looks. Of course, this
isn’t a matter of mere politics, but of deep and important national
interest. No matter what one thinks of whether or not the U.S.
should have entered Iraq, or of the strategies and tactics employed
by the Bush team to secure the peace, it behooves not just all
conservatives but all patriotic Americans to wish success on the
“surge” and on the overall mission there as defined by the
president. A United States that fails to succeed in Iraq is a
United States that is seriously weakened on the world stage.
And we conservatives can indeed have an impact on the
surge’s ultimate success. By all accounts, the surge needs time to
work, more time than Washington politicians seem willing to give
it. And by most accounts, the terrorists within Iraq have their
morale sustained and emboldened by all the talk in the United
States about a quick pullout of our troops. Patriots who want to
counteract the morale boost to al-Qaeda and, more important, to
provide the political support necessary to buy more time here at
home for the surge, will stand up and insist, in public, that this
is a fight we must not run from, but win. It’s not enough
for our elected officials to be dragged, whining all the way, to
voting for the surge and against the Democratic pullout plans; they
should loudly trumpet every piece of good news from Iraq, and we in
the rank and file should praise them when they do so.
Second, Bush can come back if he finally starts getting
the credit he deserves for a phenomenally strong economy.
Conservatives need to talk up the economy. Meanwhile, the biggest
factor in fooling the public into thinking the economy is less than
terrific is the high price of gasoline. The high prices were a
predictable result from the various ethanol (and similar)
requirements included in the energy bill the GOP Congress passed.
Those requirements have hampered supplies, forced costly changes at
refineries, and helped drive up all sorts of other food and
livestock costs as well by putting a crimp in corn supplies.
Conservatives ought to propose suspensions of those ethanol
requirements.
Third, Bush can come back if conservatives pick some
fights on which public opinion is in their favor. For instance,
well-framed battles
over judicial nominees win converts from the political center
rather than push them away. So do efforts to permanently reduce the
death tax. So do efforts to emphasize English as our common and
official language. And so do battles against race-based quotas and
various “quota-lite” measures, as long as they are combined with
the right non-quota-related words and actions that show sincere
outreach to dispossessed communities and individuals.
Fourth, Bush can come back if the Democratic
congressional leadership continues to look like the anti-military,
big-government extremists that they are. They already are showing a
propensity to embarrass themselves. The more they do so — and the
more sensibly and responsibly we act — the better Bush, and all
conservatives, will look in comparison.
While we’re at it, and no matter what other legitimate
complaints we have about the president, it’s time to give Bush some
serious credit on one front. This is a man who is not only resolute
on policy but also resolutely upbeat. His attitude in public is
always hopeful, always forward-looking, and always with a “can do”
faith in the rightness, goodness, and resourcefulness of the
American people. There’s no Jimmy Carter-like malaise emanating
from the Oval Office. And no blame games, cop-outs, or cutting and
running. For all his faults, our president is a man whose basic
values and sense of purpose and optimism are all
admirable. He believes in free markets. He believes in traditional
values. He believes in taking national security seriously.
And he merits some support.
